O  mmxth  }Mntivk%hThmmm  El 


FSoiu  to 


Slatlertj 


BV  230  .S6  1920 

Slattery,  Charles  Lewis, 

1867-1930. 
How  to  pray 


Cj)utc6  Principles  for  Lag  people 


HOW  TO  PRAY 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER 


^!^^ 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

KEW  YORK    •    BOSTON  •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •   SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •   CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Lxn. 

TORONTO 


HOW  TO  PRAY 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER 


BY 
CHARLES  LEWIS  SLATTERY,  D.D. 

RECTOR  OF  GRACE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK 


Dt 


jQeto  gorb 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1920 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1920, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPAKY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published,  NoTember,  1920 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    After  This  Manner  Pray  Yb    .     .  •    .     .      3 

II    Our  Father  Who  Art  in  Heateh  .  r     .     .     19 


III  Hallowed  Be  Tht  Name 

IV  Tht  Kingdom  Come     . 
V    Tht  Will  Be  Done      . 


On  Earth  as  It 
Is  IN  Hraven 


37 
49 
61 


VI    Give  Us  This  Day  Our  Daily  Bread  ...    79 

VII    Forgite   Us   Our  Trespasses  as  We   Forgitb 

Those  Who  Trespass  Against  Us     ...     97 

VIII    Lead  Us  not  into  Temptation  but  Deliver 

Us  FROM  Evil  .     , 117 


OUR  Father,  ivhp  art  in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy 
Name.     Thy  kingdom  come.     Thy  ivill  be  done  on 
earth.  As  it  is  in  heaven.     Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread.     And  forgive  us  our  trespasses,  As  v:e  for- 
give those  'who  trespass  against  us.     And  lead  us  not  into 
temptation;  But  deliver  us  from  evil. 

For  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory, 
for  ever  and  ever.    Amen. 


AFTER  THIS  MANNER  PRAY  YE 


HOW  TO  PRAY 


AFTER   THIS   MANNER   PRAY  YE 

THERE  are  rightly  many  books  on  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  A  traditional  interpretation,  more 
or  less  fixed,  now  attaches  to  it  because  of  its  con- 
stant use  through  the  Christian  centuries.  But,  be- 
sides this  rolling  up  of  a  sacred  tradition,  each  gen- 
eration must  find  in  it  what  is  especially  applicable 
to  its  own  needs  and  aspirations.  Indeed  each  indi- 
vidual, so  far  as  he  thinks  and  feels  for  himself, 
must  find  in  it  what  no  other  person  has  found.  It 
is  for  ever  new.  To  strike  off  from  our  own  experi- 
ence what  its  words  mean  to  us  is  perhaps  a  help  to 
bring  the  Lord's  Prayer  into  that  great  freedom  by 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  takes  the  words  of  Christ 
and  shows  them  unto  men  today.^  The  old  truth 
'^  St.  John  xvi.  15. 

3 


4  HOW  TO  PRAY 

remains;  the  new  truth  Is  revealed.  Thus  the  an- 
cient words  ring  with  the  teaching  of  an  ever  living 
Christ.  We  may  say  one  to  another,  "  The  Lord's 
Prayer  means  this  to  me ;  what  has  it  come  to  mean 
to  you?  "  When  we  have  all  told  our  best  convic- 
tions, we  shall  still  know  that  depths  of  meaning, 
never  yet  sounded,  lie  within  its  divine  calm. 

Before  taking  up  the  petitions  severally,  a  few 
words  may  profitably  be  said  about  one  or  two  prob- 
lems which  are  sometimes  perplexing,  and  then  a 
word  or  two  about  ways  to  use  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

I 

The  Lord's  Prayer  is  recorded  in  the  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  St.  Matthew  and  in  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  St.  Luke.  The  form  in  St.  Luke  is  a  little 
shorter,  and  otherwise  differs  in  slight  details  from 
the  form  in  St.  Matthew.*  Scholars  think  that  the 
form  in  St.  Luke  may  be  earlier,  since  the  tendency 

*  These  are  the  words  as  given  in  the  Revised  Version : 
St.  Mattheiv  vi.  9-13.  St.  Luke  xi.  2-4. 

Our  Father  which  art  Father,^  Hallowed  be 
in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy  king- 
thy  name.  Thy  king-  iMany  ancient  authori- 
dom  come.     Thy  will  be     ties  read  Our  Father,  luhich 


AFTER  THIS  MANNER  PRAY  YE       5 

of  liturgical  use  is  towards  enrichment.  That  there 
is  variation  is  Indication  that  the  prayer  at  first  was 
more  or  less  fluid  in  expression,  but  always  catching 
the  essential  petitions  which  our  Lord  taught.  As 
the  prayer  is  introduced  in  St.  Matthew,  He  did  not 
say,  "In  these  words  pray  ye";  but,  ''Thus,"  or 
"  After  this  manner  pray  ye."  :j:  Accordingly  there 
was  no  disloyalty  to  Him  in  the  variation.  It  is 
possible,  as  some  commentators  point  out,  that,  as 
our  Lord   repeated   the  prayer  to  different  sets  of 

:}:  5"/.  Matthe^iv  vi.  9. 


done,  as  in  heaven,  so 
on  earth.  Give  us  this 
day  ^  our  daily  bread. 
And  forgive  us  our  debts, 
as  we  also  have  forgiven 
our  debtors.  And  bring 
us  not  into  temptation, 
but  deliver  us  from  ^  the 
evil  one.^ 

1  Gr.  our  bread  for  the 
coming  day. 

-  Or,  evil. 

^  Many  authorities,  some 
ancient,  but  with  varia- 
tions, add,  For  thine  is  the 
kingdom,  and  the  poiver, 
and  the  glory,  for  ever. 
Amen. 


dom  come.^  Give  us  day 
by  day  ^  our  daily  bread. 
And  forgive  us  our  sins; 
for  we  ourselves  also  for- 
give every  one  that  is  in- 
debted to  us.  And  bring 
us  not  into  temptation."* 

art  in  heaven.  See  Matt, 
vi.  9. 

-  Many  ancient  authori- 
ties add  Thy  ivill  be  done, 
as  in  heaven  so  on  earth. 
See  Matt.  vi.  10. 

^  Gr.  our  bread  for  the 
coming  day. 

^  Many  ancient  authori- 
ties add  but  deliver  us  from 
the  evil  one  (or,  from  evil). 
See  Matt.  vi.  13. 


6  HOW  TO  PRAY 

hearers,  He  might  not  always  have  used  exactly  the 
same  words;  so,  that,  so  far  as  the  necessity  of  the 
case  goes,  the  versions  in  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke 
might  both  be  literally  His  words. 

We  cannot  help  asking  why  in  only  two  of  the 
four  Gospels  so  important  a  teaching  as  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  recorded.  We  need  not  find  difficulty  in 
imagining  why  it  is  not  recorded  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel;  because  the  Fourth  Gospel,  written  late  in 
the  Apostolic  Age,  was  supplementary  and  inter- 
pretative. There  was  no  need  to  record  a  prayer 
used  wherever  Christians  lived.  It  is  somewhat 
more  difficult  to  tell  why  St.  Mark  did  not  record 
it.^  Perhaps,  since  his  Gospel  was  brief  and  con- 
cerned chiefly  with  events,  he  thought  it,  even  in 
the  early  period  of  Gospel  records,  unnecessary  to 
repeat  what  was  on  the  lips  of  all  Christians. 
Moreover,  doubtless  a  small  volume  containing  this 
and  other  teachings  of  our  Saviour  was  in  circula- 
tion when  St.  Mark  wrote  —  the  foundation  in 
Aramaic    (the  dialect  spoken  in  our  Lord's  day) 

1  St.  Mark  xi.  25  seems  quite  clearly  "  a  reference  to 
the  Lord's  Prayer  or  the  early  teaching  connected  with 
it."  (See  H.  B.  Swete,  The  Gospel  according  to  St.  Mark, 
p.  261,  n.) 


AFTER  THIS  MANNER  PRAY  YE       7 

of  our  present  Greek  Gospel  according  to  St.  Mat- 
thew. 

II 

People  are  sometimes  disturbed  because  the 
Lord's  Prayer  is  not  wholly  original  with  the  Lord 
Jesus.  In  both  language  and  thought  it  strikes  its 
roots  into  the  traditions  of  His  race.  Much  of  it 
can  be  traced  to  the  Old  Testament;  but  writings 
later  than  the  Old  Testament  give  us  phrases 
which  are  fairly  close  to  it.  It  is  possible  that  our 
Saviour  knew  Hebrew  prayers  in  which  are  phrases 
like  these,  "  Thou  art  holy  and  Thy  Name  is  holy  " ; 
"Forgive  us,  our  Father,  for  we  have  sinned"; 
"  Magnified  and  hallowed  be  His  great  Name;  may 
His  Kingdom  reign";  "Our  God  who  art  in 
heaven,  assert  the  unity  of  Thy  Name,  and  es- 
tablish Thy  Kingdom  continually  " ;  "  And  cause 
us  not  to  come  .  .  .  into  the  hands  of  temptation."  ^ 

1  See  A.  H.  McNeile,  The  Gospel  according  to  St.  Mat- 
thew, p.  77;  also  Schiirer,  The  Jeivish  People  in  the  Time 
of  Christ,  II.  ii.  p,  85  ff.  It  is  difficult  to  discover  the 
exact  age  of  parallels  commonly  adduced,  since  the  his- 
tory of  the  Jewish  Liturgy  is  exceedingly  complicated. 
In  Encyclopaedia  Biblica  2822  f.  will  be  found  a  learned 
compilation  of  the  most  remarkable  and  indisputable  Jew- 


8  HOW  TO  PRAY 

Such  coincidences  as  these  no  longer  baffle  the 
Christian  scholar.  He  exults  in  them.  He  no 
longer  sees  our  Master  thrust  into  a  foreign  world, 
but  coming  quietly  into  a  world  of  which  He  had 
always  been  Lord.  "  There  is  nothing  in  his- 
tory," says  a  keen  historian,  "  more  suggestive  than 
the  convergence  of  the  best  ideals  of  all  nations  on 
that  which  was  real,  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  ^  In 
a  brilliant  essay  George  Tyrrell  once  demon- 
strated that  Christianity  had  such  power,  in  so  far 
as  it  kept  true  to  Christ,  that  it  could  take  any 
form  of  religious  expression,  and,  filling  it  with 
Christ's  Spirit,  renew  it,  transform  it,  make  it 
Christian.  "  As  the  parasite,"  he  said,  "  ends  by 
consuming  its  host,  so  the  Christian  leaven,  received 
into  the  bosom  of  paganism,  tends  to  transform  the 
whole  mass  into  its  own  nature."  ^  If  this  was  true 
of  Christianity  after  Christ's  visible  presence  was 

ish  parallels.  Dr.  Nestle,  the  compiler,  remarks,  "  Even 
if  for  the  separate  parts,  words,  thoughts  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  parallels  can  be  adduced  from  Jewish  sources,  as 
a  whole  this  prayer  remains  unique." 

1  H.  M.  Gwatkin,  Early  Church  History,  I.  p.  i6. 

2  The  Spirit  of   Christianity,   in  Essays  on  Faith  and 
Immortality,  p.  71. 


AFTER  THIS  MANNER  PRAY  YE       9 

removed,  and  true  of  paganism;  how  much  more 
true  was  it  of  our  Lord's  appropriation  of  the  ex- 
perience of  His  devout  fellow-countrymen  in  the 
days  when  He  was  teaching  His  Apostles  face  to 
face.  Whether  the  words  w^re  old  or  new,  their 
meaning  for  us  is  that  He  said  them,  stamped  them 
with  His  approval,  and  put  them  into  such  com- 
bination that  a  world  can  never  forget  them,  and 
shall  ever  be  pouring  into  them,  as  into  a  mould, 
the  aspirations  and  longings  of  those  who  in  all 
ages  stand  nearest  to   Him. 

Moreover,  it  is  important  to  notice  that  even  if 
individual  phrases  may  be  found  elsewhere,  the 
prayer  as  a  whole  is  absolutely  unique.  Keim  was 
not  moved  by  sentiment,  but  true  to  his  sharp  crit- 
ical instinct,  when  he  wrote  of  the  Lord's  Prayer: 
"  Pretty  well  all  in  detail  reappears  here  and  there 
in  Jewish  Talmudic  prayers  which,  though  later, 
are  however  not  altogether  dependent  upon  Jesus; 
yet  the  union  of  truly  biblical  simplicity  with  non- 
originality  of  details  is  a  merit,  and  the  perfection 
of  the  composition  as  a  whole,  with  its  blending  of 
solidity  and  breadth,  childlikeness  and  wisdom,  vig- 


lo  HOW  TO  PRAY 

our  and  humility,  has  not  been  reached  by  the 
Jews."  ^  To  say,  therefore,  that  the  Lord's  Prayer 
is  a  reflection  of  contemporary  devotion  would  be 
like  saying  that  the  Sistine  Madonna  is  not  original 
because  its  colours  may  be  found  in  other  Italian 
paintings.  It  is  the  combination  of  colours  which 
made  the  masterpiece.  It  is  the  combination  of 
human  aspirations  which  made  the  Prayer  of  prayers. 

Ill 

We  need  to  bear  in  mind  how  the  introductory 
words,  before  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel,  affect  us  today.  When  the  Lord  said, 
**  After  this  manner  pray  ye,"  we  know  that  He  in- 
tended His  followers  not  to  use  the  exact  words 
only,  as  a  prayer  in  itself;  but  more  especially  to 
find  in  the  prayer  a  model  on  which  they  could 
build  their  own  specific  prayers.  They  must  feel. 
He  seems  to  say,  that  they  were  always  praying  to 
One  who  wishes  to  be  thought  of,  first  of  all,  not 
as  a  Creator,  a  Ruler,  an  Almighty  Force,  but  as  a 
Father.     And    no    prayers    were    to    be    selfish: 

"^  Jesus  of  Nazara,  tr.  by  Ransom.  III.  p.  337.  See 
also  Edersheim,  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah, 
I.  p.  536. 


AFTER  THIS  MANNER  PRAY  YE      ii 

Christ's  men  must  In  every  prayer  pray  for  one 
another:  It  Is  always  "  0«r  .Father."  Very  In- 
structive, too,  Is  the  place  of  God  In  the  model 
prayer.  Of  six  petitions,  half  are  about  God  — 
and  the  former  half,  at  that.  The  second  three 
petitions  are  fundamental  requests  In  behalf  of 
those  who  say  the  prayer.  These  Instances  show 
the  way  In  which  the  whole  prayer  Is  only  begun 
to  be  used  when  It  Is  formally  repeated,  even 
though  with  the  utmost  loyalty  to  our  Saviour. 
Its  deeper  significance  Is  revealed  when  the  spirit 
of  prayer  within  us  seeks  expression  In  accordance 
with  its  principles,  and  so  controls  all  our  praying. 
Not  only  when  we  say  our  routine  prayers  day 
by  day  should  wc  remember  this:  we  should  re- 
member It  also  when  in  the  agonizing  crisis  of  our 
lives  we  seek  God's  companionship  for  our  comfort 
and  stay,  or  His  guidance  for  the  accomplishment 
of  some  most  difficult  duty. 

IV 

The  Lord's  Prayer  ends  with  the  clause,  "  De- 
liver us  from  evil."  The  Doxology, —  **  For  thine 
is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  for 


12  HOW  TO  PRAY 

ever  and  ever, — "  was  added  by  the  Church,  after 
our  Lord's  earthly  ministry,  as  an  ascription  suit- 
able for  liturgical  use.  As  Christ  promised,  through 
the  Holy  Spirit,  to  be  with  His  followers  to  the 
end  of  the  world,^  so  we  may  feel  that  this  Dox- 
ology  is  still  His,  though  it  does  not  belong  to  the 
original  prayer.  However,  in  a  strict  study  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  it  may  not  be  considered.  It  is, 
after  all,  an  ascription  of  praise,  and  not  prayer  at 
all.  It  would  be  liturgically  and  historically  bet- 
ter if  it  might  be  printed  as  a  separate  paragraph 
following  the  Lord's  Prayer.  It  would  be  a  beau- 
tiful custom  if  after  all  the  people  had  said  the 
Lord's  Prayer  in  a  natural  voice,  this  Doxology 
might  be  sung. 


Quite  clearly  there  should  be  no  public  service  in 
which  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  not  used,  and  the  best 
liturgical  feeling  seems  to  indicate  that  it  should 
always  be  said  by  all  who  are  present.  Evidently 
it  was  at  first  given  to  a  group  of  men  to  be  used 
by  the  group  with  the  consciousness  of  the  whole 

^St,  Matiheiv  xxviii.  20;  St.  John  xiv.  26,  28,  18,  21. 


AFTER  THIS  MANNER  PRAY  YE      13 

body  of  followers,  perhaps  with  a  consciousness  of 
the  needs  of  all  men  everywhere  In  all  times.  It 
belongs  not  only  to  public  worship  at  stated  times, 
but  especially  to  such  high  moments  as  Baptism, 
Holy  Communion,  Marriage,  and  Burial.  The 
saying  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  by  all  the  congrega- 
tion often  lifts  a  wedding  from  Its  worldly  aspect 
into  the  clear  air  of  a  religious  consecration.  Its 
saying  at  a  funeral  by  all  the  friends  of  the  be- 
reaved over  an  open  grave  Is  often  the  deepest 
consolation:  Christ's  pledge  seems  fulfilled,  "  Where 
two  or  three  are  gathered  together  In  my  Name 
there  am  I  In  the  midst  of  them":  His  prayer 
on  friendly  lips  makes  the  radiant  Friend  of  Mary 
and  Martha  seem  close, —  as  He  is, —  in  the  bitter 
hour. 

A  safe  rule  would  direct  one  always  to  say  the 
Lord's  Prayer  first  among  one's  private  prayers.  It 
is  a  symbol  of  loyalty  to  Christ.  It  Is,  further,  the 
symbol  of  our  effort  to  frame  the  prayers  which 
follow,  in  accordance  with  His  rules,  here  con- 
cretely illustrated  and  illumined.  It  must,  sub- 
consciously if  not  consciously,  purge  our  praying  of 
Its  narrowness  and  egotism.     It  must  redeem  our 


14  HOW  TO  PRAY 

forgetfulness  of  the  love  which  we  owe  God  and 
His  wide  world. 

There  is  legitimate  dread  of  formalism,  whether 
the  prayer  be  used  in  public  services  or  in  private 
devotion.  To  escape  formalism  is  supremely  hard, 
however  prayers  be  framed.  The  man  who  so  far 
as  I  know  has  made  the  most  abject  confession  of 
formalism  used  invariably  ex  tempore  prayers.  All 
of  us,  from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest,  were  we 
quite  candid,  would  confess  that  the  mind  too  often 
wanders  from  the  sacred  words. 

My  words  fly  up,  my  thoughts  remain  below; 
Words  without  thoughts  never  to  heaven  go. 

A  devout  child,  with  Latin  imagination,  once  told 
me  that  she  dreamed  that  there  was  a  church 
full  of  people,  and  over  the  head  of  each  kneeling 
worshipper  was  an  electric  lamp.  She  was  told  in 
her  dream  that  if  the  people  kneeling  there  were 
really  praying,  as  the  prayer  was  uttered  light  would 
come  into  the  lamps  over  their  heads.  She  looked, 
and  only  one  light  flashed  in  the  darkness,  and  that 
was  over  the  head  of  one  very  old  woman.  Such 
a  parable  as  this  suggests  to  the  man  who  dreads 


AFTER  THIS  MANNER  PRAY  YE      15 

formalism  how  difficult  is  earnest  and  real  prayer. 
The  man  who  would  refuse  often  to  use  the  Lord's 
Prayer  because  he  shuns  formalism  would  prob- 
ably, if  he  were  consistent,  soon  cease  to  pray  at 
all.  Every  one  of  us  must  rely  upon  the  patience 
and  the  love  of  God,  who  remembers  (as  our  Mas- 
ter reminds  us)  that  we  are  but  as  children.^  With 
the  naturalness  of  childhood  we  may  dare  to  ask  Him 
to  forgive  our  formalism  when  we  tr>'  to  be  real, 
and  we  may  dare  to  hope  that  He  finds  loyalty  and 
love  going  up  to  Him  through  our  imperfect  efforts 
to  repeat  the  prayer  divinely  taught. 

^St.  Matthew  vii.  n. 


OUR  FATHER  WHO  ART  IN  HEAVEN 


II 

OUR   FATHER   WHO   ART   IN    HEAVEN 
I 

THE  first  word  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  opens  the 
windows  of  the  soul  towards  the  radiant 
scene  of  human  fellowship.  Our  Lord  is  teaching 
us  that  we  may  not  be  selfish  in  our  praying.  As 
we  pray  for  ourselves,  we  at  the  same  time  pray 
for  others.  We  and  they  are  one,  however  diverse 
our  longings,  our  sins,  our  virtues;  however  sep- 
arated we  may  be  in  space  or  time. 

Our  Master  is  comforting  us  too  with  the  sense 
of  human  companionship.  We  may  be  in  some 
remote  wilderness,  fearful  and  distressed  by  the  hol- 
low silences ;  but  when  we  say,  "  Our,"  in  the 
great  prayer,  we  know  that  we  are  compassed  about 
with  a  cloud  of  human  witnesses.  The  God  to 
whom  we  pray  is  hearing  not  only  our  petitions, 
19 


20  HOW  TO  PRAY 

but  the  petitions  of  uncounted  multitudes.  We  can- 
not come  near  Him  without  threading  our  way 
through  His  court, —  a  court  filled  with  humble 
people  of  every  rank  in  life,  on  their  knees,  lifting 
weary,  but  triumphant,  hands  to  Him.  Or  we  may 
be  in  dense  crowds  of  humanity:  some,  running 
wildly  after  pleasure;  some,  hard  at  w^ork;  some, 
lost  in  the  love  of  a  few  dear  ones ;  —  and  not  one 
apparently  aware  of  our  problem,  our  perplexity, 
our  sorrow,  not  even  of  our  presence.  Then,  in 
an  agony  of  loneliness  we  cry,  "Our  Father!" 
Instantly  we  become  conscious  that  these  Indifferent 
strangers  are  Indifferent  strangers  no  longer.  They 
have  problems  even  as  we;  their  perplexities  are  as 
baffling;  their  sorrows  hurt  quite  as  ours.  We  are 
given  in  that  moment  imagination.  The  vision  of 
brotherhood  opens  wide  before  us.  We  are  not 
alone.  God  Is  with  us,  and  so  are  all  they  who 
belong  to  Him. 

The  word  "  Our  "  at  the  beginning  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  not  more  a  summons  to  the  duty  of  un- 
selfishness than  to  the  comfort  of  human  associa- 
tion. If  God  belongs  to  us  all,  there  can  be  no 
limit   to   the  association   one  with   another,   to   the 


OUR  FATHER  21 

fellowship,  to  the  community  of  good.     The  duty 
is  fused  in  the  sublime  consolation. 

It  is  commonly  pointed  out  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
never  said  "  Our  Father "  when  He  Himself 
prayed.  There  is,  of  course,  the  definite  record 
that  He  said,  "  My  Father."  There  is  also  the 
record  that  when  He  spoke  of  Him  to  His  disciples, 
He  said  sometimes,  "  My  Father,"  and  sometimes, 
"  Your  Father,"  but  there  is  no  record  that  He 
spoke  of  Him  as  "  Our  Father."  All  this  is  im- 
portant. There  is  no  doubt  that  it  does  mark  the 
difference  between  His  Sonship  and  that  of  all  other 
men:  it  is  a  subtle  distinction  which  became  the 
legitimate  basis  of  intricate  definitions  in  later  the- 
ology. Yet  I  cannot  for  one  moment  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  did  not  say  the  prayer  with  His  dis- 
ciples. The  argument  from  silence  is  discounted 
when  a  simple  logic  tells  another  story.  The  Per- 
son to  whom  the  personal  pronoun  "  my "  and 
"  your "  could  be  attached  must  belong  to  both, 
whatever  distinctions  exist  in  that  possession. 
"  Our  Father  "  was  an  inevitable  form  of  address 
for  our  Lord  and  His  followers  if  they  prayed  to- 
gether.    The  loving  intimacy  which  bound  Him  to 


22  HOW  TO  PRAY 

them  forbids  us  to  think  that  He  should  not  have 
prayed  with  them.  Had  He  not  prayed  with  them 
I  cannot  see  how  He  could  have  said  to  His  fa- 
ther, "  As  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee, 
that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us."  ^  The  barest 
imagination  cannot  fail  to  insist  that  He  gathered 
them  to  Him  and  said  with  them,  for  them,  in  them, 
"  Our  Father." 

And  imagination  and  logic  are  not  the  only  rea- 
son for  such  an  inference  as  this.  Again  and  again 
our  Saviour  refused  to  be  separated  from  the  hu- 
manity which  He  came  to  save.  John  the  Baptist 
would  not  have  baptized  Him,  had  not  Jesus  our 
Elder  Brother  insisted.  It  was  a  baptism  of  re- 
pentance ;  but  Christ  had  no  sins  to  repent.  It  was 
only  as  He  determined  to  be  part  of  that  repentant 
humanity,  sharing,  though  sinless,  the  burden  of 
their  sins,  that  He  could  have  been  baptized  by 
John.  So  throughout  His  life  He  refused  ad- 
vantages which  might  have  been  His:  He  was  poor; 
He  lived  in  a  humble  village;  He  had  no  influen- 
tial friends;  He  was  often  weary  with  work;  He 
died  at  last  on  a  cross.     That  one  who  went  so 

^  St.  John  xvii.  21. 


OUR  FATHER  23 

deep  as  this  into  human  nature  should  not  have  said 
aloud  with  His  disciples,  "  Our  Father,"  is  un- 
thinkable. He  who  would  share  with  them  the 
depths  of  humanity  would  certainly  claim  for  them 
the  heights  also  on  which  He  stood.  As  a  gentle 
Christian  mother,  teaching  her  little  child  to  pray, 
identifies  herself  with  the  child,  so  He  must  have 
prayed  with  His  little  brothers.  He  must  have  said, 
"  Our  Father." 

Therefore  when  we  say  the  first  word  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  we  recognize  ourselves  as  one  with 
all  the  men  who,  now  living,  are  consciously  or  un- 
consciously praying  to  the  All-Father.  We  recog- 
nize ourselves  as  one  with  all  the  saints,  heroes, 
and  discouraged  failures  of  the  past.  Down  the 
years  of  the  future  we  must  be  looking  to  see 
the  children  and  the  children's  children  to  the  dis- 
tant generations;  with  them  too  we  say,  "Our 
Father."  And  at  the  head  of  all  this  multitude  is 
the  Great  High  Priest, —  our  Redeemer,  Saviour, 
King, —  our  Brother,  our  Friend, —  leading  these 
voices  of  the  ages,  saying,  "  Our  Father."  Hu- 
manity has  a  Leader  who  leads  from  within.  His 
Father  is  our  Father  for  ever  and  ever. 


24  HOW  TO  PRAY 

II 

To  address  God  as  Father  was  not  new  in 
Christ's  time.  The  use  of  the  title  Father  is  rare 
in  the  old  Testament:  indeed  it  is  used  only  seven 
times.  Five  times  Yahweh  is  spoken  of  as  the 
Father  of  the  Hebrew  people;^  once  in  a  promise 
made  to  David,  Yahweh  through  Nathan  said  that 
he  would  be  a  father  to  Solomon,  and  Solomon 
should  be  His  son ;  ^  and  once  a  prediction  was 
made  that  by  and  by  men  would  pray  to  Yahweh  as 
a  father.^  There  is,  moreover,  an  allusion  in  the 
verse,  "  Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the 
Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  him."  *  But  there  is 
no  record  in  the  Old  Testament  that  men  at  prayer 
ever  addressed  Yahweh  as  Father.  In  the  Jewish 
literature  which  survives  after  the  Old  Testament 
we  find  a  growing  use  of  the  title.  Moreover, 
whereas  in  the  Old  Testament  the  title  makes  God 
only  the  Father  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  (for  in  the 
instances  in  which  Solomon  is  mentioned,  Solomon 

^  Dt.  xxxii.  6;  Is.  Ixiii.  i6;  Ixiv.  8;  Mai.  i.  6;  il.  lo. 

2  2  Samuel  vii.  14. 

3  Jeremiah  in.  19. 

^  Ps.  ciii.  13.     (See  also  verse  4.) 


OUR  FATHER  25 

is  representative  of  the  people),  we  find  In  the 
Apocrypha  that  God  Is  beginning  to  be  thought  of 
as  the  Father  of  individuals.^  Even  so  we  are  far 
from  the  meaning  which  the  Lord  Jesus  threw  into 
the  Name,  **  Father." 

Before  speaking  more  specifically  it  Is  well  to  see 
what  different  meanings  the  word  father  may  have 
in  our  own  time.  A  great  novel  may  reflect  life 
better  than  any  biography:  sometimes  the  novel 
(when  really  at  its  best)  is  autobiography  of  the 
most  searching  sort.  Remembering  this,  compare 
the  meaning  of  father  for  the  hero  of  The  JVay  of 
all  Flesh  with  the  meaning  which  the  same  word 
has  for  the  junior  hero  of  The  Neivcomes.  To 
Ernest  Pontifex  the  word  father  stood  for  bigotry, 
tyranny,  selfishness,  unspeakable  hardness ;  for  Cllve 
Newcome  the  same  word  stood  for  chivalry,  honour, 
unselfishness,  unspeakable  love.  If  this  diversity  of 
content  In  the  word  is  possible  In  nineteenth  century 
England,  it  is  still  more  possible  when  one  thinks 
of  difierent  periods  or  of  different  civilizations  in 
the  same  period.     In  feudal   Europe  the  son  was 

^  JFis.  ii.  i6;  xlv.  3;  Sir.  xxili.  i,  4;  11.  10;  To.  xlli.  4; 
Afac.  vi.  3. 


26  HOW  TO  PRAY 

practically  his  father's  slave;  in  Europe  today  the 
father  watches  his  son's  eyes  anxiously  to  gain,  if  he 
may,  his  approval.  In  China  today  a  father  owns 
his  children  and  may  if  he  will  treat  them  like 
chattels.  In  a  Christian  home  in  China  (which  is 
a  new  civilization  for  that  ancient  land)  the  father 
is  more  responsible  for  his  child's  happiness  than 
for  his  own.  The  mere  saying  of  the  word  father 
amounts  to  little.  It  is  the  meaning  which  fills  it 
which  is  all-important. 

Therefore  when  we  say  that  Christ  found  the 
title  Father  already  applied  to  God,  and  only  em- 
phasized what  already  existed,  we  lose  the  whole 
message  of  His  life.  By  His  words  and  deeds  He 
lived  into  the  paternal  relationship  an  entirely  new 
meaning.  That  He  could  say,  "  He  that  hath  seen 
m.e  hath  seen  the  Father,"  ^  shows  how  fervently  He 
was  all  the  time  and  in  every  place  revealing  God's 
Fatherhood.  That  was  His  joyful  and  loving  mis- 
sion to  men.  To  say  that  after  the  time  of  Jesus, 
men  knew  God  to  be  forgiving,  patient,  eager  for 
His  children's  reverent  affection,  was  cold,  compared 
with  the  larger  and  richer  fact  that  henceforth  men 

1  St.  Jolin  xiv.  9. 


OUR  FATHER  27 

were  to  see  In  the  character  of  Jesus  the  exact  de- 
tails of  the  character  of  the  Father  of  the  world. 
No  longer  was  He  merely  the  Father  of  Creation; 
He  was  the  Father  of  Grace.  No  longer  was  He 
expecting  only  obedience.  Bare  obedience  could 
not  satisfy  Him.  He  willed  to  give  love  to  His 
children;  but  He  could  not  be  satisfied  with  loving; 
He  longed  that  His  children,  with  absolute  free- 
dom of  choice,  should  love  Him.  He  wanted  (the 
life  of  Jesus  plainly  shows)  to  have  not  servants, 
subjects,  pupils;  He  longed  for  friends,  companions, 
dear  children. 

And  this  meant  that  those  w^ho  were  taught  by 
the  Master  to  say,  "  Our  Father,"  should  stand  up 
boldly  to  claim  their  sonship.  There  was  to  be  no 
cringing,  only  the  perfection  of  reverence  fused  with 
that  love  which  casts  out  fear.  They  had  inalien- 
able right  to  come  to  God  in  prayer,  because  they 
were  His  children;  they  were  children  not  by 
courtesy  or  figure  of  speech,  but  by  His  own  will, 
and  therefore  by  right.  They  were  His  kin,  His 
very  own.  To  show  it,  to  make  it  impossible  of 
denial  or  doubt.  He  gave  His  only-begotten  Son  to 
die,  that  the  kinship  might  for  ever  be  clear. 


28  HOW  TO  PRAY 

How  long  has  human  nature  been  In  learning  the 
divine  lesson  of  this  all-embracing  Fatherhood! 
The  paganism  of  the  West,  the  heathenism  of  the 
East  were  claimed  in  large  measure  by  the  Lord  of 
all  religious  aspiration;  yet,  as  they  surged  again 
and  again  upon  Christianity  In  succeeding  centuries, 
they  tended,  now  and  again,  to  dim  the  confidence 
which  Jesus  gave.  Partly  through  discouragement 
with  their  own  unworthiness,  partly  through  a  vul- 
gar notion  of  what  pertained  to  supreme  rulership. 
Christian  men  thus  tainted  with  pagan  or  heathen 
influence,  began  to  fear  that  they  must  approach 
the  Father  not  directly,  as  of  right  by  His  will,  but 
indirectly  through  the  mediation  of  the  saints,  or 
through  the  help  of  the  beautiful  mother  of  Jesus. 
Then  men  felt  that  they  could  not  confess  their 
sins  to  God  directly,  but  must  seek  the  mediator- 
ship  of  the  Christian  priest.  In  so  far  as  men 
needed  human  assurance,  the  priest  of  right  and 
necessity  stood  ready  to  give  men  confidence.  In 
so  far  as  men  felt  that  this  was  the  only  way  In 
which  they  could  make  peace  with  God,  they  had 
forgotten  that  the  Saviour  had  taught  them  to  say 
boldly,    "  Our   Father."     They   had    forgotten    the 


OUR  FATHER  29 

words  of  the  mystic  writer  who  said,  "  Beloved,  now 
are  we  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be."  ^  They  had  forgotten,  if  they  ever 
knew,  that  God  is  always  longing  for  self-respect- 
ing, confident  children,  who  come  directly  to  Him 
with  their  troubles,  their  triumphs,  their  failures, 
their  truest  love. 

All  that  "  Father  "  means  to  the  man  possessed 
with  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  is  too  great  for  words  to 
express.  But  it  means,  among  other  wonders,  direct 
and  confident  approach  to  a  Father  who  is_JiS-ten- 
der,  as  interested,  as  loving  as  Jesus  Christ.  We 
come  to  a  Father  who  wishes  us  to  know  that  we 
have  the  august  rights  belonging  to  children  of  the 
JMost  High.  y 

III 

For  a  moment  we  must  pause  to  reflect  upon  the 
tense  of  the  address  to  our  Father  in  heaven.  We 
pray,  "  Our  Father  who  art  .  .  ." 

There  is  a  constant  tendency  to  feel  that  God  has 
been  more  manifest  in  the  past  than  in  the  present. 
Our  Lord  accused   His  countr>'men  of  garnishing 

^  I    John    iii.   2. 


30  HOW  TO  PRAY 

the  tombs  of  the  prophets  who  had  been  slain  by  the 
ancestors  of  these  same  fellow-countrymen.^  He 
accused  them  further  of  being  exceedingly  sensi- 
tive about  what  Yahw^eh  had  said  to  Moses  and 
Elijah,  but  quite  callous  what  Yahweh  was  saying 
through  His  prophet  John;  most  of  all  to  what  He 
was  saying  through  Him,  His  Son.^  We  read  the 
accusations  complacently,  and  straightway  feel  that 
we  are  living  about  two  thousand  years  since  God 
showed  Himself  to  men.  This  is  not  true  of  all 
of  us.  It  is  true  of  a  good  many  of  us.  We  lack 
a  vital  belief  in  the  God  of  the  present  tense.  We 
forget  the  words  of  Christ,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  ^  We  for- 
get the  unlimited  deeds  of  the  invisible  but  ever- 
present  God.  We  forget  the  Saviour's  promises 
concerning  the  Holy  Spirit. 

There  is  of  late  an  increase  in  mysticism.  It  Is 
vague.  It  searches,  more  or  less  vainly,  for  ade- 
quate terms.  But  it  is  a  genuine  confidence  in  the 
God  whose  Fatherhood  is  in  the  present  tense.     It 

^St.  Mattheiv  xxiii.  29  flF.;  Si,  Mark  ix.  11  flf. 
^St.  John  vi.  31  ff.  etc. 
3  St.  Matthevj  xxviii.  20. 


OUR  FATHER  31 

studies  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament,  most  of 
all  the  wonders  of  our  Saviour's  assuring  words,  to 
discover  if  it  may,  wherein  these  mountain  tops  of 
earthly  experience  may  gleam  again  through  the 
mists  of  our  conventional  Christianity.  Mys- 
ticism has  something  more  than  a  hope  that  the  best 
that  ever  was  on  land  or  sea  is  part  of  human 
experience  today,  because  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same 
yesterday,  today,  and  for  ever;  because  God  is  for 
ever  love, —  the  Father  of  the  present  tense. 

IV 

The  concluding  words  of  our  address  to  the 
Father  are,  "  in  heaven."  All  that  has  gone  be- 
fore seems  to  make  the  Father  so  near  to  us  that 
He  might  be  thought  of  as  only  absorbed  in  our 
earthly  environment.  The  plain  intimation  that 
He  is  always  near  us  we  must  not  lose  as  we  think 
of  the  symbol  of  His  transcendence.  The  Father 
whom  we  confidently  approach  is  in  heaven. 

We  sometimes  think  that  heaven  in  ancient  times 
always  meant  the  distant,  the  inaccessible.  When 
we  address  God  as  our  Father  in  heaven,  we  make 
heaven  near.     It  was  not  necessary  that  we  leani 


32  HOW  TO  PRAY 

the  roundness  of  the  world  and  the  consequent  abol- 
ishing of  a  conception  of  hell  and  earth  and  heaven 
in  a  series  of  horizontal  planes.  The  Divine 
Teacher  had  already  implied  the  interlacing  of  what 
is  heavenly  with  what  is  earthly.  So  when  we 
speak  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  we  are  not  thereby 
in  thought  thrusting  Him  away  from  us. 

There  were  two  conceptions  in  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  Era  as  to  what  is  divine.  The  Jew- 
ish idea  of  God  so  isolated  Him  from  the  affairs 
of  men  (to  keep  His  righteousness  untarnished)  that 
it  was  difficult  for  the  most  reverent  Jews  to  think 
of  Him  as  intimate  with  men.  This  was  the  root 
of  the  difficulty  which  Jews  found  in  the  Incarna- 
tion. On  the  other  hand  was  the  Greek  idea  of 
God  by  which  He  seemed  so  exclusively  immanent 
that  He  was  lowered  to  the  weaknesses,  the  foibles, 
and  the  sins  of  humanity.  In  so  far  as  the  Incarna- 
tion brought  the  divine  close  to  the  human,  there 
was  no  surprise.  The  scandal  arose  when  the  In- 
carnate Deity  was  shudderingly  separate  from  hu- 
man evil,  even  to  the  point  of  death.  Christ 
brought  the  truth  in  both  these  conceptions  together 


OUR  FATHER  33 

in  the  devout  address,   "  Our  Father  who   art  in 
heaven." 

Accordingly,  while  we  approach  our  Father  with 
the  simple  trust  that  belongs  to  childhood,  we  never 
cease  to  remember  with  awe  the  reverence  which 
we  owe  to  Him.  He  is  our  Father.  He  is  our 
Father  in  heaven. 


HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME 


Ill 

HALLOWED   BE   THY   NAME 
I 

TO  the  reverent  fellow-countrymen  of  Jesus 
Christ  the  Name  of  God  was  so  sacredly 
associated  with  the  very  Being  of  God  that  for  a 
long  period  in  their  national  history  they  would  not 
even  speak  it.  The  name  of  a  person  was  not,  as 
with  us,  a  mere  convenience  to  separate  that  person 
in  thought  from  other  persons ;  and  to  summon  him 
at  need.  The  name  of  a  person  was  the  revelation 
of  the  person's  character.  It  was  the  symbol  of 
his  utterance  and  expression  in  the  world.  Roughly 
speaking  we  may  say  that  the  name  was  the  person 
himself;  since  it  was  the  manner  by  which  men  be- 
came aware  of  his  personality  and  identity.  In  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  this  dignity  is  preserved 
by  printing  name  with  a  capital  letter  whensoever 
it  refers  to  God. 

37 


38  HOW  TO  PRAY 

Where  then  do  we  find  the  Name  of  God? 
First,  we  find  it  in  His  world.  From  the  flaming 
suns  to  the  invisible  insects  we  see  the  expression 
of  His  nature  in  what  we  call,  for  lack  of  a  better 
name,  laws.  These  laws  tell  us  much  about  God, 
and  we  often  say  that  He  is  the  God  of  Law.  The 
tenderness  and  beauty  of  the  natural  world  are 
offset  by  its  terrible  power  and  ruthless  inevitabil- 
ity. The  revelation  in  nature  melts  into  a  stupen- 
dous mystery.  But,  all  in  all,  it  is  one  of  the  Names 
of  God. 

Then,  we  find  the  Name  of  God  in  men.  In  so 
far  as  men  will  open  their  hearts  to  God,  God  en- 
ters; and,  through  their  eyes  and  hands  and  feet, 
He  expresses  Himself  before  the  world  of  men. 
Even  w^hen  men  are  not  conscious  of  opening  the 
door  to  His  Presence,  they  yet  admit  Him  without 
being  aware  who  is  the  Stranger  whose  coming 
makes  their  hearts  leap  for  joy.  Probably  every 
man  is  the  medium  for  God's  expression,  for  the 
life  of  every  man  is  from  Him;  and  no  man  can  be 
so  consistently  stubborn  as  always  to  shut  Him  out. 
By  his  creation  every  man  belongs  to  God.  The 
late  William    Huntington   was   wont   to   say   that 


HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME        39 

when  he  wished  to  turn  to  that  part  of  the  church 
which  he  felt  to  be  most  filled  with  God,  he  turned 
to  the  congregation.  He  found  there  the  Name  of 
God.  He  had  adequate  proof  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
lived  in  the  hearts  of  his  people. 

God  expresses  Himself  in  nature  and  in  men,  but 
the  complete  expression  of  His  character  is  in  Christ. 
Christ  is  the  Name  of  names;  He  is  the  Word  of 
God.  He  that  hath  seen  Him,  hath  seen  the  Fa- 
ther. In  Him  the  confusing  contradictions  of  the 
natural  world  find  their  authoritative  interpreta- 
tion. In  Him  the  blurred  reflections  of  the  Su- 
preme Being  through  the  imperfections  of  humanity 
are  brought  together  in  the  white  light  of  a  per- 
fectly transparent  medium.  In  language  there  is 
no  such  marvel  as  an  absolutely  accurate  translation 
of  a  classic  from  one  tongue  to  another.  The 
delicate  undertones  of  idiom  cannot  be  snared  in 
exact  words  and  phrases  of  the  new  language. 
Even  with  circumlocution  and  commentary  they 
may  only  be  approximated ;  and  then  the  concise 
force  is  altogether  lost.  Jesus  Christ  is  God's 
Name  perfectly  translated  from  terms  of  heaven 
to  terms  of  earth.     The  divine  character  is  exactly 


40  HOW  TO  PRAY 

translated   Into  human   character;   and   nothing   is 
added,  nothing  is  lost. 

n 

Now  we  pray,  "  Hallowed  be  thy  Name."  If 
ever  we  have  thought  that  this  petition  meant  only, 
"  Grant  us  always  to  speak  Thy  Name  with  re- 
spect, with  reverence,  with  a  hush  in  the  voice," 
we  can  no  longer  think  this  enough.  But  it  is  a 
valid  beginning,  and  therefore  let  us  begin  just 
there.  It  would  mean  much  if  before  we  take  upon 
our  lips  the  Name  of  God,  we  should  stop  an  in- 
stant, and  try  to  think  what  we  are  about  to  say. 
As  Moses  before  the  burning  bush  put  off  his  shoes 
because  the  place  where  he  stood  was  holy  ground, 
so  we  might  feel  that  with  the  naming  of  God  we 
were  consciously  acknowledging  His  presence.  We 
should  be  keeping  the  Third  Commandment  in  a 
positive  sense.  We  should  never  in  any  way,  by 
carelessness  or  thoughtlessness,  take  His  Name  in 
vain.  With  each  mention  of  it  we  should  sum- 
mon our  whole  nature  to  do  Him  honour.  Thus 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places  we  should  be  prac- 
tising the  Presence  of  God. 


HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME        41 

We  may  think  of  a  church  building  as  not  only 
formally  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  God,  but  as 
also  saturated  with  the  utterance  of  His  Name  in 
praise  and  prayer.  We  ought  therefore  to  treat 
every  church  building  with  the  respect  due  unto 
the  Name  of  the  Lord.  Not  only  during  service 
time,  but  before  and  after,  all  unnecessary  conver- 
sation should  be  impossible.  Even  our  thoughts 
should  be  collected.  In  mind  and  heart  we  should 
ascend  into  the  courts  of  the  Lord's  House,  to  ap- 
preciate if  we  can  that  we  dwell  continually  with 
Him. 

Good  as  all  this  is,  it  is  only  a  beginning.  To 
win  an  answer  to  the  petition,  "  Hallowed  be  thy 
Name,"  we  must  enter  into  the  awe  of  the  Name 
of  God,  as  His  Name  is  spelled  for  us  in  His  world, 
in  His  children,  in  His  Son. 

As  the  world  of  outward  sense  is  one  of  God's 
Names,  so  we  must  form  the  habit  of  seeing  that  He 
is  there  expressing  Himself.  We  shall  not  be  en- 
tangled in  any  shallow  pantheism;  but  as  we  see 
the  artist  in  his  picture,  the  poet  in  his  poem,  the 
composer  in  his  music,  so  we  shall  find  God  in  His 
great  picture,  in  His  rhythmic  verse,  in  His  echoing 


42  HOW  TO  PRAY 

music.  The  ancient  people  who  would  not  kill  an 
animal  for  food  without  offering  part  of  it  as  a  sac- 
rifice to  the  Creator,  recognized  that  all  life  belongs 
to  God.  They  were  in  so  far  hallowing  His  Name 
as  written  in  nature.  The  right-minded  fisherman 
or  huntsman  who  will  not  take  life,  except  as  he 
would  use  it  for  food,  or  shield  himself  from  dan- 
ger, is  also  bearing  witness,  however  unconsciously, 
to  the  sacredness  of  God's  Name  in  nature.  We 
read  with  disgust  that  Spinoza  would  amuse  himself 
by  putting  flies  into  a  spider's  web,  that  he  might 
watch  the  cruelty  of  the  spider  and  the  agony  of  the 
fly.  That  is  wanton  irreverence.  As  we  watch  the 
clouds  floating  over  the  sky  by  day,  as  we  gaze  at 
the  stars  in  the  infinite  depths  revealed  by  night,  as 
we  hear  the  wind  In  the  trees  or  the  water  falling 
over  the  rocks,  as  we  stand  before  the  high  moun- 
tain capped  with  its  perpetual  snow  or  before  the 
sounding  sea,  we  must  think  of  God.  The  awe 
which  belongs  to  the  Supreme  Creator  must  catch 
hold  of  our  hearts  and  bow  them  In  worship.  We 
do  not  understand.     But  we  know  that 

God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
j  His  wonders  to  perform: 


HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME        43 

He  plants  His  footsteps  in  the  sea, 
And  rides  upon  the  storm. 

Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 

And  scan  His  work  in  vain; 
God  is  His  own  interpreter, 

And  He  will  make  it  plain. 


The  secret  of  the  renewing  power  of  the  outward 
world  is  ultimately  in  the  fact  that,  whether  he 
knows  it  or  not,  the  worn  and  tired  spirit  of  man 
finds  in  it  the  inspiring  witness  of  the  Name  of  God. 
Still  further  we  must  study,  striving  to  see  the 
Name  of  God  written  across  the  life  of  humanity. 
When  we  treat  men  with  contempt,  we  dishonour 
the  Name  of  God.  When  we  use  men  who  chance 
to  be  in  our  power  for  our  own  selfisti  convenience, 
and  fail  to  give  them  in  return  what  is  their  just 
due,  we  dishonour  the  Name  of  God.  When  we 
even  think  of  them  as  less  valuable  than  ourselves, 
we  dishonour  the  Name  of  God.  Jesus  our  Master 
made  quite  clear  how  much  of  the  divine  was  in- 
cluded in  the  lives  of  certain  neglected  and  de- 
spised people:  He  spoke  of  the  starving,  the  un- 
known, the  naked,  the  sick,  the  convicts;  and  then 
he  said  that  any  one  who  was  truly  kind  to  these  for- 


44  HOW  TO  PRAY 

saken  people  would  be  kind  to  Him.  A  deed  for 
them  was  a  deed  for  Him.  His  own  life  was  the 
illustration  of  what  could  be  done  for  men,  if  one 
would  only  see  in  them  the  Name  of  God.  He 
believed  in  people,  both  men  and  women,  whom  no 
one  else  in  His  time  believed  in,  and  they  became 
what  He  believed  them  capable  of  being.  The 
Name  of  God  which  He  read  in  them,  was  so  far 
transfigured  that  all  men  saw  it.  The  unreliable, 
the  useless,  the  wicked  became  more  than  generals, 
more  than  kings,  more  than  saints.  They  were  in 
their  faces  and  in  their  lives  proclaiming  the  Name 
of  the  Lord.  Through  them  the  Name  of  God  had 
been  hallowed. 

Most  of  all  we  must  see  God  in  Christ.  For  He 
is  the  one  exact  Word  or  Name  of  God, — "  the 
brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his 
person."  ^  We  hallow  the  Name  of  God  through 
Christ  when  we  recognize  His  authority  to  lead  us, 
when  we  read  His  commands  with  an  open  mind 
and  dare  to  let  them  cut  asunder  all  our  habits 
and  previous  convictions,  when  we  dare  to  believe 
that  He  lives  and  through  the  Spirit  speaks  to  men 

^  Hebrenvs  i.  3. 


HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME         45 

today, —  sometimes  to  mankind  in  a  mighty  group, 
sometimes  to  the  humble  but  great  leader,  some- 
times to  the  unknown  saint  hidden  from  the  world. 
Hallowing  the  Name  by  reverent  demeanour  and 
by  gracious  words  is  essential,  but  deeper  still  is 
the  hallowing  of  the  Name  by  that  love  which  keeps 
the  commandments  of  the  Incarnate  Lord.^  The 
Father's  Name  is  glorified  by  the  fruit  of  the  dis- 
ciples' life  issuing  in  the  keeping  of  these  plain  com- 
mands.2  When  we  pray,  **  Hallowed  be  thy 
Name,"  we  are  praying  that  we  may  be  like  Christ, 
so  that  if  possible  we  may  say,  "  I  live ;  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  ^  To  be  as  Christ,  each 
man  to  his  own  time,  to  live  as  He  lived,  to  die  as 
He  died,  to  love  as  He  loved, —  that  is  the  highest 
honour  any  man  can  render  to  the  Name  of  God. 
His  Name  is  then  indeed  hallowed. 

m 

The  words,  "  On  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven,"  quite 
certainly    belong    to   each    of    the    three   petitions: 

^  St.  JoJin  xiv.  15. 

2  St.  John  XV.  8. 

3  Galatians  ii.  20. 


46  HOW  TO  PRAY 

"  Hallowed  be  thy  Name.     Thy  Kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done." 

There  is  a  central  peace  wherein  the  Name  of 
God  is  hallowed.  There  is  the  perfection  of  praise. 
But  until  God's  whole  creation  echoes  that  perfect 
hallowing  of  His  Name,  the  appreciation  of  God's 
glory  is  incomplete.  We  are  not  praying  therefore 
for  a  goal  which  has  not  been  won:  the  heavenly 
have  attained  it.  In  imagination  we  know  what 
it  is  to  hallow  the  divine  Name;  and  so  in  one 
of  the  highest  moments  of  Christian  worship,  we 
cry,  "  Therefore  with  Angels  and  Archangels,  and 
with  all  the  company  of  heaven,  we  laud  and  mag- 
nify thy  glorious  Name;  evermore  praising  thee, 
and  saying,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  of  hosts, 
Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  thy  glory.  Glory  be 
to  thee,  O  Lord  Most  High.     Amen." 


THY  KINGDOM  COME 


IV 

THY   KINGDOM   COME 


i^rTT^HY  kingdom  come,"  was  an  old  prayer  of 
X  the  Jews.  To  them  it  meant,  "  Down  with 
the  Romans!  Up  with  a  new  King, —  a  Cssar  for 
the  Jews!  "  We  now  know  that  the  Jews  alone  in 
the  Roman  Empire  retained  an  intense  national  feel- 
ing, resenting  absorption  into  the  Empire.^  All 
other  peoples  evidently  were  proud  to  be  admitted 
into  the  great  world-fellowship  of  which  the  glory 
of  Rome  was  the  visible  sign.  Rome  had  skill  in 
making  the  conquered  nations  feel  that  it  was  bet- 
ter to  be  merged  in  something  greater  than  a  na- 

1  See  H.  M.  Gvvatkin,  Early  Church  History,  I.  p.  49: 
"  Though  Judea  was  a  tiny  province,  the  Jews  were  the 
greatest  people  of  the  East  and  no  unequal  match  for 
Rome  herself.  .  .  .  The  Law,  the  temple,  and  the  Mes- 
sianic hope  kept  Israel  a  living  nation  —  the  only  living 
nation  left  inside  the  Empire." 
49 


50  HOW  TO  PRAY 

tion.  It  was  somewhat  as  when  the  petty  shop- 
keeper a  generation  ago  found  his  profit  larger  when 
he  had  become  a  member  of  a  trust.  His  sigh  for 
a  past  independence  was  lost  in  the  satisfaction  over 
certain  advantages  in  co-operation.  But  the  Jew 
never  recognized  these  so-called  advantages.  He 
longed  for  independence.  The  holy  city  was  pro- 
faned by  the  presence  of  haughty  Roman  soldiers 
and  proud  Roman  governors.  The  Jews  were  the 
only  nation  of  which  Rome  had  any  fear;  for  it 
was  the  only  nation  which  still  had  a  real  national 
spirit.  With  a  leader  of  the  capacity  and  ideals  of 
an  Alexander,  a  Caesar,  a  Napoleon,  Jerusalem 
might  easily  have  set  up  a  successful  kingdom  which 
would  have  rivalled  Rome.  One  does  not  under- 
stand the  more  worldly  aspect  of  the  Messianic  hope 
unless  one  remembers  with  what  vigour  men  in  Ju- 
daea were  praying,  *'  Thy  kingdom  come." 

There  were  devout  and  far-seeing  Jews  who  were 
longing  for  the  more  spiritual  gifts  of  a  redeemed 
Israel.  Marvellous  sentences  concerning  the  "  Suf- 
fering Servant  "  of  Isaiah  must  have  come  to  them 
again  and  again  with  a  vague  imagination  of  what 
might  be.     But  even  for  them,  even  for  the  wise 


THY  KINGDOM  COME  51 

Simeons  and  Annas,  there  was  the  dream  of  a  king- 
dom greater  than  the  best  in  the  past,  more  famous, 
more  splendid  than  the  fame  and  the  splendour  of 
David  and  Solomon.  They  too  prayed  very  con- 
cretely, "  Thy  kingdom  come."  It  was  a  theocracy, 
but  this  theocracy  was  to  have  an  outward  and  ex- 
ceedingly substantial  expression. 

II 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  what  the  petition,  "  Thy 
kingdom  come,"  meant  to  the  disciples.  First,  it 
meant  the  day  when  they  believed  the  Lord  Jesus 
would  cast  off  His  simple  life  of  teaching,  and 
virould  allow  Himself  to  be  made  their  king.  James 
and  John  asked  for  seats  of  honour  when  He  came 
into  His  glory ;^  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  were 
thinking  that  in  a  few  months  at  latest  they  would 
see  their  dear  Master  on  a  throne  in  Jerusalem.  It 
was  part  of  our  Saviour's  hard  task  to  teach  them 
that  His  kingdom  was  more  than  physical;  it  was 
spiritual,  and  for  that  reason  more  real,  more  pow- 
erful, more  surely  indestructible.  But  I  see  no  rea- 
son to  think  that   His  plain  words  ever  prepared 

15/.  Mark  X.  35  ff. 


52  HOW  TO  PRAY 

them  for  Good  Friday.  The  desolating  shock  of 
it  was  that  they  had  been  praying,  "  Thy  kingdom 
come,"  with  a  hope,  a  confidence,  that  Jesus  to  the 
ordinary  man  would  seem  to  be  a  king  like  Caesar. 
The  disciples  themselves  would  know  the  inward 
quality  of  His  kingly  life;  but  his  kingship  was  to 
have  the  trappings  which  would  warn  all  men  that 
He  was  a  king. 

After  the  vanishing  of  the  Lord  from  the  earthly 
scene,  the  disciples  looked  forward  to  His  visible 
return,  that  He  might  be  acknowledged  as  the  King 
of  the  World.  There  is  no  question  that  the  vis- 
ible kingdom  of  their  Master  was  chiefly  in  their 
minds  when  they  prayed,  "  Thy  kingdom  come." 

They  evidently  expected  Him  during  their  life- 
time. When  the  Apostles  were  nearly  all  dead, 
and  He  had  not  yet  come,  they  began  to  give  a  new 
meaning  to  His  promise  to  return  and  be  with  them 
for  ever.  The  Fourth  Gospel  is  particularly  em- 
phatic in  declaring  that  He  was  to  return  through 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Church  never  ceased  to  look 
forward  to  His  visible  appearing;  but  such  a  docu- 
ment as  the  Fourth  Gospel  shows  that  the  prayer 
had  partly  been  answered  already  in  the  conscious- 


THY  KINGDOM  COME  53 

ness  which  the  primitive  Church  had  of  the  near- 
ness of  Christ.  Questions  quickly  arose  for  which 
the  Apostles  had  no  authoritative  answer  in  their 
memory  from  the  Jesus  of  Galilee;  but  through  the 
Holy  Spirit  they  knew  His  living  decision.  At  the 
Apostolic  Council  of  Jerusalem,  James  said,  in  sum- 
ming up  the  decision,  '*  It  seemed  good  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  to  us  .  .  ."  ^  And  St.  Paul  wrote  a 
little  later  that  nothing  could  separate  him  and  his 
friends  from  the  love  of  Christ.^  They  prayed  for 
the  greater  and  greater  manifestation  of  the  king- 
dom of  God;  but  it  was  coming  every  day,  before 
their  very  eyes. 

Ill 

After  this  rapid  historical  survey  we  are  ready  to 
ask  the  most  important  question.  What  do  we  our- 
selves mean,  when  we  pray,  *'  Thy  kingdom  come  "? 

So  scrupulous  a  scholar  as  the  late  Charles  Au- 
gustus Briggs  declares  that  in  the  New  Testament 
the  kingdom  means  the  Church ;  ^  that  is,  "  Church  " 
is  the  later  synonym  for  the  early  New  Testament 

1  ^cts  XV.  28  ff.  3  Church  Unity,  p.  36. 

"^Romans  viii.  35  ff. 


54  HOW  TO  PRAY 

term,  "  kingdom."  Not  all  scholars  would  make 
the  words  exactly  equivalent,  but  I  think  none 
would  fail  to  acknowledge  that  Chu'rch  has  a.t  least 
very  much  of  the  content  of  kingdom.  In  this 
sense,  then,  the  petition  would  be  an  appeal  for  the 
advance  of  the  Church.  We  ask  not  for  the  mag- 
nifying of  the  glory  of  the  institution,  certainly  not 
for  its  wealth  or  dignity,  but  for  an  increase  in  its 
service  to  the  world.  We  are  praying  that  more 
teachers,  doctors,  nurses,  and  clergy  may  go  far  and 
wide,  wherever  the  need  is  known,  and  that,  going, 
they  may  wholly  forget  themselves  in  the  complete- 
ness of  their  ministry.  We  are  not  waiting  for  an 
answer  which  may  appear  in  another  world  or  in 
another  era,  but  we  pray  God  to  save  this  world 
here  and  now  by  the  immediate  coming  into  it  of 
the  love,  the  sacrifice,  the  wisdom  of  His  kingdom, 
the  Church. 

We  are  not,  however,  limiting  the  petition  to 
this  immediate  aspect  of  it.  There  is  in  every 
sound  nature  an  instinctive  belief  "  in  the  good  time 
coming."  As  the  Jews  looked  forward  to  the  Mes- 
sianic kingdom,  as  the  early  Christians  looked  for- 
ward to  our  Lord's  quick  return,  as  men  weary  of 


THY  KINGDOM  COME  55 

earth  have  sung  of  heaven,  so  men  of  vision  have 
dreamed  that  on  this  earth  social  conditions  should 
so  improve  that  poverty  and  crime  should  cease; 
that  education  should  so  spread  and  so  be  spiritual- 
ized that  it  would  do  its  share  to  make  a  happy, 
efficient,  and  noble  world ;  that  labour  and  capital 
should  so  comprehend  their  mutual  duty  one  to  the 
other  that  peace  and  love  should  reign  among  men 
and  nations;  that  Christian  sympathy  should  so  open 
the  heart  of  Christian  disciples  that  they  would  find 
a  way  to  bring  all  men  who  love  Christ  into  one 
Church.  These  are  some  of  the  things  of  which 
people  on  their  knees  might  think  when  they  pray, 
"  Thy  kingdom  come."  It  is  part  of  our  faith  in 
God  that  we  believe  that  '*  the  best  is  yet  to  be." 
We  may  take  Browning's  hope  for  the  individual 
and  apply  it  to  the  Church.  We  are  still  in  the 
morning  of  the  times:  we  are  still  in  the  Early 
Church.  Remembering  this,  we  may  sing  in  the 
name  of  the  Church,  '*  See  all,  nor  be  afraid." 

IV 

When  we  pray,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  we  need 
to   remember   that   there   is  no   renovation   of   the 


56  HOW  TO  PRAY 

mass  which  does  not  proceed  from  the  renovation  of 
individuals:  "the  golden  age  cannot  be  made  out 
of  leaden  men."  While  men  are  dreaming  of  won- 
derful schemes  which  will  shortly  bring  industrial 
prosperity,  or  social  righteousness,  or  Church  unity, 
we  must  remind  them  that  these  hoped-for  panaceas 
are  nonsense  unless  men  are  made  over  one  by  one. 
It  is  only  the  new  creation  of  each  individual  which 
can  make  the  kingdom  of  God  come  in  its  ultimate 
perfection. 

The  Saviour  once  said  to  His  followers,  "  The 
kingdom  of  God  is  within  you."  The  words  might 
be  translated,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  among 
you";  they  would  then  mean  that  He  Himself  is 
the  kingdom,  since  He  was  then  among  them.  We 
may  put  the  two  translations  together,  and  make 
them  say,  "  Let  Christ  into  the  secret  places  of  your 
individual  lives,  so  that  in  you  the  kingdom,  as 
leaven,  may  have  its  chance  to  spread  from  life  to 
life  till  humanity  is  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  fulfilled." 

And  this  thought  brings  us  to  the  refrain  which 
belongs  equally  to  the  first  three  petitions  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer:  "Thy  kingdom  come  on  earth,  as 


THY  KINGDOM  COME  57 

it  is  in  heaven."  Where  Christ  is,  there  is  the 
light  of  heaven.  In  Him  the  kingdom  has  come. 
In  Him,  as  the  perfect  man,  as  an  inseparable  part 
of  humanity,  as  the  new  creation,  the  kingdom  has 
come  to  humanity.  We  therefore  are  not  praying 
for  a  far-of¥  illusion.  The  kingdom  is  here,  even 
as  we  pray  for  it.  And  yet  it  is  ever  coming.  We 
shall  pray  the  prayer  for  ever,  and  the  petition  will 
always  be  in  process  of  being  answered.  The  king- 
dom came  when  Jesus  came  to  Bethlehem,  to  Naz- 
areth, to  Jerusalem.  The  kingdom  came  when 
Telemachus  jumped  into  the  arena,  and  ended  the 
gladiatorial  combats.  The  kingdom  came  when 
Shaftesbury,  by  his  courage,  put  an  end  to  duels. 
The  kingdom  came  when  slavery  ceased  in  Amer- 
ica. It  shall  come  when  we  have  Church  unity. 
It  shall  come  when  the  nations  live  in  perpetual 
peace.  It  shall  come  when  men  cease  to  speak  ex- 
clusively of  their  rights  and  when  they  think  ex- 
clusively of  their  duty  to  others.  It  shall  come 
when  all  men  everywhere  seek  after  God,  and,  find- 
ing Him,  give  their  whole  lives  to  Him,  till  the 
unity  and  the  joy  and  the  love  of  mankind  are  lost 
in  the  light  which  radiates  from  the  throne  of  God. 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE 


V 

THY   WILL    BE   DONE 


**^Tr^HY  will  be  done,"  means  to  many  only  ab- 
JL  ject  resignation.  It  is  negative  and  unin- 
spiring. There  are  times,  doubtless,  when  we  have 
been  travelling  confidently  upon  our  own  way,  and 
come  suddenly  upon  some  insuperable  obstacle 
which,  by  pain  and  disappointment,  warns  us  that 
we  must  turn  our  steps  to  go  up  a  steep,  rough 
path  under  God's  guidance.  We  think  our  way 
pleasant  and  happy;  we  think  His  way  full  of  grief; 
and  so  we  identify  the  doing  of  His  will  with  ab- 
ject resignation. 

Resignation  to  His  will  is  only  part  of  the  peti- 
tion, but  it  is  an  important  part.  And  we  must 
see  with  care  just  what  sort  of  resignation  it  is  for 
which  we  may  properly  pray. 

During  the  late  war  brave  young  soldiers  said 
6i 


62  HOW  TO  PRAY 

repeatedly  that  when  they  came  Into  the  thick  of 
the  danger,  they  lost  all  fear;  because,  as  they  pic- 
turesquely described  their  sensations,  until  the  fly- 
ing shell  came  which  bore  their  name  and  address, 
nothing  could  hurt  them,  and  when  it  did  come 
nothing  could  protect  them  from  it.  So  they  were 
as  peaceful  as  if  they  were  children  playing  in  a 
summer  meadow.  That  was  calm  submission;  but 
it  was  not  consciously  at  least  submission  to  a 
heavenly  Father.  It  was,  so  far  as  one  can  see, 
and  so  far  as  they  were  able  to  see,  submission  to 
fate.  It  may  be  that  subconsciously  they  had  re- 
signed themselves  to  God's  protection.  Many  sol- 
diers, we  know,  gave  themselves  into  His  loving 
care  with  full  and  loyal  consciousness.  I  am  not 
now  speaking  of  them.  I  am  thinking  only  of  those 
who  submitted,  as  they  believed,  to  fate.  Clearly, 
"  Thy  will  be  done,"  does  not  mean  submission  to 
fate,  however  heroic  such  submission  may  be. 

Imagine,  again,  three  men  in  a  boat  upon  a  storm- 
tossed  sea.  The  boat  is  leaking.  One  man  Is  row- 
ing towards  the  quiet  water  of  a  harbour;  the  sec- 
ond man  Is  swiftly  bailing  the  water  from  the  boat ; 
the  third   is  on   his   knees   praying,   saying,   "  Thy 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE  63 

will  be  done."  Very  likely  the  other  men  are  pray- 
ing too,  but  the  man  who  is  ostensibly  praying  is 
doing  nothing  else.  If  all  are  praying,  there  is  a 
radical  difference  in  their  interpretation  of  "  Thy 
will  be  done."  The  man  who  leaves  his  prayer  un- 
accompanied by  action  means  by,  "  Thy  will  be 
done,"  submission  to  any  forces  of  nature  into  which 
he  may  suddenly  find  himself  dashed.  The  others, 
if  they  pray  it,  mean  a  stubborn  contest  with  those 
same  forces  of  nature  by  which  one  shall  not  be 
their  victim  but  their  conqueror.  Our  sympathy 
easily  tells  us  that,  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  does  not 
mean  submission  to  natural  forces.  These  forces, 
we  conceive,  may  quite  likely  be  placed  before  us 
to  make  us  thwart  them.  This  violent  contest  of 
man  with  nature  may  be  God's  will  for  us. 

Finally,  imagine  a  mother  whose  son  has  been 
entrapped  by  vicious  older  companions  into  a  life 
of  sin  and  shame.  Her  dreams  for  her  boy  arc 
shattered.  He  who  might  have  been  her  pride,  is 
her  disgrace.  She  thinks  of  the  men  who  ruined 
him;  she  laments  and  weeps;  and  then,  as  in  piety, 
cries  out  to  God,  "  Thy  will  be  done."  That  sub- 
mission is  little  short  of  blasphemy.     It  is  not  God's 


64  HOW  TO  PRAY 

will.  Certain  vile  men  are  the  gods  to  whom  she 
yields.  God's  will  would  be  not  submission,  but 
the  most  fiery  war.  If  she  could,  it  would  be  God's 
will  that  she  should  so  confound  their  devilish  plots 
that  even  yet  her  son  escape.  But  if  that  is  impos- 
sible, it  is,  we  may  be  sure,  God's  will  that  she 
make  war  against  the  wild  beasts  to  which  her  son's 
tormentors  belong.  She  may  not  save  her  own  son ; 
she  may  be  the  means  of  saving  the  mothers  of  other 
sons  a  sorrow  which  has  come  to  her.  "  Thy  will 
be  done,"  will  mean  for  her  anything  else  perhaps; 
but  it  can  never  mean  submission  to  the  carelessness 
or  wickedness  of  men. 

To  what  or  to  whom  may  the  submission  be 
given,  if  not  to  fate  or  nature  or  men?  Clearly 
only  to  God.  And  not  to  God  disguised,  in  any 
way,  as  fate  or  nature  or  the  world-self.  It  must 
be  to  God  as  revealed  by  the  Master  who  taught 
this  prayer ;  it  must  be  to  God  as  our  Father  —  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  a  Father 
who  loves  mankind,  and  who  loves  men  one  by  one. 
He  knows  our  wants,  our  sorrows,  our  gladness. 
He  sends  his  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust. 
He  remembers  us  all.     To  be  resigned  to  such  a 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE  65 

Father  is  to  be  sure  that  what  is  best  for  us  one 
by  one,  for  us  in  our  varied  relationships,  for  us  all 
collectively,  has  been  done.  We  may  not  have  what 
we  would  most  like  to  have,  but  we  are  not  pray- 
ing to  a  Father  who  cares  for  some  of  His  children 
and  not  for  others.  In  an  intricate  world  we  are 
imagining  what  it  is  to  find  our  place  loyally  and 
unselfishly,  to  bear  well  our  disappointments,  to  be 
serene  in  grief,  and  to  be  humble  in  success,  know- 
ing that  so  we  shall  best  understand  what  the  will 
of  God  means  for  the  ultimate  happiness  of  the 
whole  world,  including  all  the  myriads  of  whom  it 
is  composed. 

Thus  our  submission  gives  us  the  sense  that  God 
is  the  Master  of  His  world.  We  all  believe  this 
theoretically;  practically  we  often  doubt  it.  The 
savage  suspicion  sometimes  grips  us  that  God  is  not 
absolutely  supreme.  Some  form  of  dualism,  which 
has  often  marred  the  history  of  thought  in  the 
Church,  lays  hold  of  us.  No  real  peace  can  come 
to  a  man  who  does  not  know  in  both  heart  and 
mind  that  God  is  the  Father  Almighty.  Love  that 
has  no  rival,  that  uses  all  the  conditions  which  love 
has  created,  but  is  never  at  the  mercy  of  conditions 


66  HOW  TO  PRAY 

from  without, —  such  love  is  the  secure  foundation 
of  our  happiness.  To  submit  to  such  Almighty 
Love,  w^hatever  the  darkness  through  which  we 
pass,  is  to  have  the  one  consolation  which  can  know 
no  defeat.  Such  human  resignation  is  to  make  one 
a  sharer  in  God's  victory. 

II 

To  say  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  with  its  full  mean- 
ing, takes  us  quickly  from  any  feeling  of  mere  sub- 
mission, however  exultant  that  feeling  of  submis- 
sion may  be.  To  think  of  the  will  of  a  loving  Fa- 
ther in  heaven  and  in  earth  carries  us  far  up  into  vi- 
sions of  beauty  and  joy.  We  rise  with  expectation 
to  discover,  if  we  may,  the  plan  of  God  for  His 
children  everj'where,  most  of  all  for  His  own  love 
to  them.  It  would  be  presumptuous  for  the  finite 
creature  to  search  the  details  of  the  plan  of  the 
Infinite  Creator,  had  not  the  Divine  Authority  com- 
manded us  to  pray  for  the  fulfilment  of  that  plan; 
and  everything  in  the  life  of  Christ  informs  us  that 
our  prayers  are  not  to  be  blind  formalities,  but  in- 
telligent co-operation:  we  are  to  love  God  not  only 
with  the  heart;  but  with  the  mind  also.     To  pray 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE  67 

that  God's  will  be  done  assumes  that  we  strive  to 
know  what  His  will  is. 

We  need,  first,  to  know  what  His  will  is  for  us 
individually.  Each  of  us  must  ask  for  that  white 
stone  In  which  his  new  name  is  written,  which  no 
man  can  know  except  the  man  who  receives  it.  We 
should  aim  to  know  His  will  for  us  day  by  day  and 
moment  by  moment.  When  the  disciples  were  anx- 
ious about  the  impending  doom  of  the  nation  which 
their  Master  foretold  them,  and  their  possible  fail- 
ure to  meet  the  treatment  to  be  meted  out  to  them, 
He  warned  them,  "  When  they  shall  deliver  you 
up,  take  no  thought  beforehand  what  ye  shall 
speak,  neither  do  ye  premeditate:  but  whatsoever 
shall  be  given  you  in  that  hour,  that  speak  ye:  for 
it  is  not  3^e  that  speak,  but  the  Holy  Ghost."  ^ 
The  Independent  man  Is  always  the  man  who  de- 
pends on  constant  guidance;  but  he  receives  guidance 
from  no  human  source;  he  is  not  looking  fearfully 
from  eye  to  eye  to  catch  an  Indication  of  what  would 
be  a  majority  vote;  his  attention  is  fixed  only  on 
that  Inner  voice,  which  he  recognizes  as  the  voice 
of   the   Spirit  of   God.     The  man  who   plans   far 

^  St.  Mark  xiii.  ii. 


68  HOW  TO  PRAY 

ahead  what  he  shall  do  on  a  certain  day  and  allows 
no  unforseen  circumstance  to  divert  him  from  his 
little  purpose,  is  not  independent  but  silly.  The 
man  who  is  ready  for  any  emergency,  meeting  it 
without  surprise  or  confusion,  because  he  feels  the 
instant  leadership  of  the  unseen  God,  seems  to  his 
fellows  detached  from  men's  wavering  opinion  and 
is  a  gloriously  independent  man.  He  is  always  say- 
ing, "  Thy  will  be  done." 

God's  will  for  the  individual  is  Inadequately  un- 
derstood if  the  individual  is  content  to  stop  with 
awaiting  knowledge  of  the  divine  will  for  emer- 
gencies. There  must  be  supreme  moments  in  every 
life  when  God  makes  known  His  will  for  the  whole 
career.  The  same  men  who  had  been  warned  to 
await  the  catastrophe  before  deciding  what  to  do, 
had  already  been  called  to  a  unique  vocation  which 
was  to  be  the  on-going  purpose  of  all  their  years. 
So  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  every  man, —  early  if 
possible,  late  if  he  have  been  dull  in  former  time, — 
learn  of  God  what  He  would  have  him  do  for  a 
business,  a  profession,  an  art,  a  trade.  One  some- 
times hears  the  sentence,  '*  A  man  ought  not  to  give 
himself  to  the  Ministry  of  the  Church  unless  he  is 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE  69 

conscious  that  God  has  called  him."  That  is  true. 
What  the  speaker  usually  forgets  is  that  a  man 
ought  not  to  be  a  doctor,  a  carpenter,  a  painter,  or  a 
banker,  unless  he  is  conscious  that  God  has  called 
him  to  be  one  of  these  people.  It  is  woefully  un- 
fortunate to  find  a  clergyman  who  has  no  sense  of 
vocation.  If  the  world  were  clear-seeing  it  would 
be  exactly  as  scandalized  to  find  a  man  in  business 
who  had  no  sense  of  vocation.  The  crucial  year  in 
the  boyhood  or  youth  of  a  man  is  when  he  decides 
what  he  shall  do  with  his  life.  The  pitiful  crea- 
tures, who  drift,  without  any  compelling  unity  to 
give  their  lives  direction,  are  not  always  men  who 
have  not  devoutly  tried  to  find  God's  will  for  them; 
but  they  have  not  dared  to  shut  their  ears  to  the 
pleadings  of  unheroic,  indulgent  parents,  or  to  the 
low  murmur  of  worldly  friends,  or  to  their  own 
whisperings  about  unnecessary  sacrifice.  If  God  is 
to  reveal  His  will  for  a  man's  whole  course,  He 
must  have  undivided  attention,  and  then  undivided 
loyalty.  If  those  two  conditions  are  met,  God  will 
give  each  man  and  each  woman  a  vocation  which 
shall  be  His  will  for  that  person  from  youth  to 
old   age.     And  the  consciousness  that  one's  whole 


70  HOW  TO  PRAY 

life  is  according  to  His  will  thereupon  makes  the 
days  and  years  golden  threads  in  a  pattern  whose 
secret  beauty  only  God  can  now  know,  but  which 
shall  be  revealed  in  due  time  for  the  common 
felicity  of  mankind. 

As  we  see  the  will  of  God  enlarging  from  in- 
dividual moments  to  the  whole  life  of  a  man,  so  we 
must  see  again  the  will  of  God  enlarging  to  include 
a  divine  plan  for  the  whole  fellowship  of  men  in 
all  the  world.  As,  in  a  dream,  we  stand  upon  the 
high  places  of  human  experience  and  look  out  over 
the  nations,  we  must  ask  what  God  means  each 
nation  to  contribute  to  the  ultimate  purpose  of  the 
race.  We  think  that  the  Hebrew  nation  con- 
tributed the  high  ideal  of  righteousness;  Greece,  we 
say,  was  the  revelation  of  human  beauty;  Rome 
stood  for  law;  England  embodies  duty;  America 
is  the  nation  running  every  risk  to  provide  oppor- 
tunity. Germany,  we  used  to  say,  was  the  expres- 
sion of  human  efficiency;  and  then  it  lost  its  re- 
sponsibility to  God,  and  sought  its  own  will;  but 
perhaps  it  will  even  yet  have  made  its  divinely  ap- 
pointed contribution.  We  stand  upon  another  high 
place  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  we  gaze 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE  71 

Into  the  future  to  know  God's  will  for  the  Church. 
We  see  now  divisions  and  prejudice  and  narrow- 
ness and  self-complacency ;  and  then  the  vision  opens, 
and  we  see  the  new  Jerusalem,  the  Church  as  God 
would  have  it  —  the  Church  at  unity  In  itself,  free 
as  the  blue  of  heaven,  holy  as  Christ  is  holy,  filled 
with  the  love  of  God.  We  see  it  not  only  at  home, 
but  also  abroad;  we  see  it  not  in  some  places  only, 
but  in  all  places  where  men  live.  The  wise  of  the 
earth  laugh  and  scoff:  Christians,  they  say,  can 
never  be  great  enough,  unselfish  enough,  good 
enough ;  so  the  Church  must  always  be  about  what 
it  is  today.  No  man  who  honestly  prays,  "  Thy 
will  be  done,"  can  halt  at  such  a  timid  prophecy. 
The  Church  shall  be  what  God  wills  it  to  be ;  and 
we  know  that  His  will  for  it  is  not  only  all  that 
we  have  dreamed  for  it,  but  unguessed  excellences 
immeasurably  beyond.  It  is  the  bride  of  Christ, 
and  shall  be  all  glorious  for  Him. 

Ill 

When  we  have  contemplated  God's  will  for  the 
Individual  and  then  God's  will  for  His  whole  uni- 
verse, we  must  make  one  more  audacious  venture: 


72  HOW  TO  PRAY 

we  must  ask  how  the  little  one  may  recognize  that 
he  has  a  part  to  play  in  the  universal  plan.  To 
ask  such  a  question  apart  from  God  would  be  im- 
pertinence; to  ask  it  in  the  fear  of  God  is  sincerest 
reverence.  It  is  really  impudence  when  we  are 
self-conscious  and  decry  trying  to  take  part  in  the 
universal  plan  of  God;  a  genuine  humility  will 
ask  that  we  may  do  our  tiny  share,  if  He  wills  to 
accept  it,  and  then  that  we  may  be  forgotten. 
Nevertheless  the  topmost  satisfaction  of  life  is  when 
we  pass  from  the  narrow  contentment  with  our  own 
careers,  and  gain  the  superb  trust  that  in  some  way, 
known  only  to  God  and  our  single  selves,  we  are 
falling  into  some  role  which  He  wishes  us  to  play 
in  order  that  by  just  so  much  His  full  plan  for  the 
world  may  sweep  on  towards  victory. 

When  we  add  the  words,  "  On  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven,"  we  are  left  to  no  vague  surmises.  We 
know  exactly  how  God's  will  is  done  in  heaven. 
We  know  this  from  the  w^ay  Jesus  Christ  did  the  will 
of  His  Father.  In  no  aspect  of  this  rising  into  the 
will  of  God  do  we  see  more  clearly  how  to  learn  the 
heavenly  way  than  in  our  Saviour's  resignation  of 
His  own  will  for  His  life  into  the  Father's  will  for 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE  73 

the  universe.  Again  and  again,  in  the  brief  Gospel 
records,  we  catch  glimpses  of  this  exchange;  but 
the  moment  when  we  perceive  it  in  its  most  convinc- 
ing light  is  the  agony  in  Gethsamane.  Our  Lord 
prayed,  "  Father,  take  away  this  cup  from  me."  ^ 
That  was  the  human  longing  within  Him  to  be  free 
of  the  pain  and  disgrace  which  loomed  before  Him: 
to  meet  them  meant  the  defeat  of  the  private  life 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  If  we  were  speaking  of 
any  one  else  we  should  say  that  His  career  was  about 
to  crash  upon  the  rocks  which  His  enemies  had  pre- 
pared for  His  fall.  The  vast  human  dread  of  fail- 
ure was  wringing  the  cry  from  His  patience.  And 
then  He  must  have  seen  the  other  vision.  He  looked 
away,  we  think,  from  His  home  in  Nazareth,  from 
the  friendly  house  in  Bethany,  from  His  happy  car- 
penter's bench,  from  His  loving  friendships,  from 
all  that  was  intimate  and  private,  and  He  saw  His 
Father's  plan  for  the  universe, —  and  then  His  own 
place  in  it. 

The  pictures,  both  in  painting  and  in  literature, 
represent  the  moment  as  a  moment  of  abject  sub- 
mission.    I    am  sure   that  submission   was   lost   in 

1  St.  Mark  xiv.  36. 


74  HOW  TO  PRAY 

exultation.  The  soldier  in  a  world  war  sees  once 
and  again,  as  the  shells  drop  about  him,  how  sub- 
lime is  the  cause  for  which  he  is  fighting,  and  there- 
upon tingles  with  desire  to  give  his  utmost,  even 
his  life,  that  he  may  prove  how  much  he  cares.  I 
know  this  from  the  lips  of  soldiers.  Now  I  am 
sure  that  Jesus  our  Master,  knowing  how  infinitely 
blessed  was  the  cause  of  His  Father  for  all  the  ages 
and  for  all  the  worlds,  desired  above  all  to  give  His 
utmost  —  His  life.  His  love,  His  will  —  that  God's 
endless  purpose  might  receive  the  one  essential  gift 
which  both  God  and  man  in  Him  must  make  for 
its  fulfilment.  All  that  is  greatest  in  human  lives 
points  to  the  perfection  of  greatness  which  is  in 
Christ.  Therefore  we  rightly  interpret  the  scant 
words  of  the  Passion  in  the  light  of  what  we  know 
from  the  highest  experience  of  humanity  everywhere 
and  always.  Do  we  not  know,  therefore,  that  when 
Christ  said,  "  Nevertheless,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou 
wilt,"  ^  His  head  was  thrown  back  that  He  might 
look  up  into  the  Face  of  His  Father,  His  eyes 
gleamed  with  the  approaching  triumph.  His  step  was 

^  St.  Mattheiv  xxvi.  39;  St.  Mark  xiv.  36;  St.  Luke  xxii. 
42. 


THY  WILL  BE  DONE  75 

firm  and  light  as  He  strode  down  the  hill  with  the 
soldiers  —  He  more  soldierly  than  any  of  them, 
He  alone  aware  of  the  end  of  the  march !  That  He 
reverted  to  the  anguish  of  His  plight  during  the 
hours  that  followed,  that  cries  of  defeat  came  from 
His  parched  lips  on  the  Cross,  is  only  what  we 
should  expect,  from  our  knowledge  of  the  saints  who 
have  followed  Him.  Often  we  hear  the  apology, 
"  You  think  I  am  brave  because  of  what  I  said  yes- 
terday ;  I  cannot  always  maintain  that  height ;  again 
and  again  I  am  lost  in  the  blackness  of  the  valley 
of  despair."  Even  here,  I  believe,  Christ  was 
tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are.^  But  the  sense 
of  triumph  was  His  in  the  tragedy,  even  as  at  times 
it  is  given  to  some  of  us,  in  a  faint  way,  to  feel  our- 
selves rising  out  of  our  private  trouble  into  the  great 
plan  of  God  for  His  universe,  wherein  our  sacrifice 
is  accepted  as  a  link  in  the  long  chain  which  reaches 
between  His  love  and  the  day  when  all  is  to  be  ful- 
filled. 

Whether  our  day  be  placid  and  glad,  or  whether 
it  be  crowded  with  torment,  if  it  be  filled  with  our 
finest  living,  may  we  be  conscious  that  our  careers 

^  Hcbretis  iv.  15, 


76  HOW  TO  PRAY 

are  not  isolated,  insignificant  fragments,  blown 
about  upon  the  winds  of  accident  and  chance,  but 
that  they  are  being  deftly  fitted,  by  God's  gracious 
pride  in  us,  into  His  advancing  plan  for  the  uni- 
verse. We  ought  to  pray,  **  Thy  will  be  done  on 
earth  as  it  Is  in  heaven,"  with  the  flash  of  Christ's 
triumph  shining  in  our  eyes,  with  an  intelligent  un- 
derstanding that  we  count,  with  the  trust  that  if  we 
truly  give  ourselves  to  His  purpose,  God  will  use 
every  bit  of  us  for  His  plan,  with  the  joy  (which 
only  He  can  give)  that  we  are  His  beloved  chil- 
dren for  ever. 

So  may  we  say  with  all  our  heart,  with  all  our 
mind,  with  all  our  strength,  "  Thy  will  be  done." 


GIVE  US  THIS  DAY  OUR  DAILY  BREAD 


VI 

GIVE    US  THIS   DAY   OUR   DAILY   BREAD 

WITH  the  fourth  petition  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer  we  turn  from  petitions  concerning 
God  to  petitions  which  concern  ourselves.  Having 
said :  "  Hallowed  by  thy  Name.  Thy  Kingdom 
come.  Thy  will  be  done  " ;  we  cannot  pray  the 
succeeding  petitions  without  the  consciousness  that 
all  that  affects  us  personally  is  transcended  by  its 
place  in  God's  eternal  purpose.  If  we  and  our 
needs  are  subordinate,  we  and  our  needs  are  also 
dignified  by  a  usefulness  which  exceeds  all  human 
boundaries. 

I 

In   the   petition,    "  Give   us   this   day   our   daily 

bread,"   we   naturally    dwell    first    upon    the   word 

"  bread."     Bread    is   the  commonest   need   of   life. 

By  this  we  know  that  we  are  intended  to  ask  for 

79 


8o  HOW  TO  PRAY 

the  common  things.  Nothing  which  causes  us  anx- 
iety is  too  trivial  to  be  included  in  prayer  to  a  God 
who  wishes  His  dependents  to  treat  Him  as  a  Fa- 
ther. By  placing  all  our  needs  before  Him  we 
show  the  simplicity  and  reality  of  our  childlike  atti- 
tude to  Him. 

We  further  tend,  in  this  thoroughness,  to  wipe 
out  the  division  of  life  which  would  separate  the 
secular  from  the  religious.  All  things  thereby  be- 
come religious.  We  are  careful  not  to  lower  the 
religious  things  to  the  secular  level:  rather,  we 
would  bring  the  secular  things  up  into  the  religious 
plane.  As  all  comes  from  God,  so  all  should  be 
dedicated  to  His  service.  When  we  pray  for  the 
common  things, —  even  for  the  commonest,  namely, 
bread, —  we  are,  by  the  deepest  instinct  within  us, 
bringing  all  things  up  to  the  life  of  God.  This 
suggests,  too,  that  we  must  be  natural  in  prayer. 
Very  disturbing  are  those  little  manuals  which  at- 
tempt to  define  just  what  we  shall  pray  for.  When 
the  human  heart  utters  a  cry,  the  most  natural  goal 
for  that  cry  is  the  heart  of  God.  When  we  use  our 
microscopes  and  see  the  rhythmic  law  in  the  least 
particles  of  His  creation,  we  know  that  His  love 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  8i 

goes  into  the  minutest  of  details.     Nothing,  to  Him, 
is  common.     All  is  His. 

We  ask,  perhaps,  why  out  of  all  the  myriad  com- 
mon things  of  life  bread  was  chosen  as  best  identify- 
ing the  secular  with  the  religious.  What  is  there 
especially  religious  about  bread?  On  the  very  sur- 
face, we  recognize  that  it  sustaioS-the-liie  of  serv- 
ice. One  of  the  interesting  developments  of  mod- 
ern knowledge  is  the  weighing  of  food  values.  An 
ounce  of  one  sort  of  food  has  a  value  in  nutrition 
which  is,  by  a  proportion  now  known  to  us,  greater 
than  the  value  in  nutrition  of  an  ounce  of  another 
sort.  We  know  also  what  kinds  of  food  minister 
to  different  parts  of  our  bodies,  so  that  we  may  use 
such  varieties  as  shall  keep  all  parts  of  our  organ- 
isms in  most  wholesome  efficiency.  Most  of  us 
know  these  interesting  facts  only  in  a  general  way; 
but  when  a  sick  man  is  recovering  from  fever  he 
may  by  his  skilful  physician  be  given  such  foods 
as  he  can  easily  and  gladly  take,  and  in  just  such 
quantities  as  shall  give  him  the  maximum  possibil- 
ity of  strength.  When  he  is  past  his  convalescence, 
he  is  in  full  vigour,  and  need  not  slowly  attain  his 
former  strength.     All  this  care  in  ministering  to  the 


82  HOW  TO  PRAY 

body  is  not  a  mere  personal  convenience:  it  is  a 
solemn  religious  duty,  so  far  as  one  can  command 
it,  that  we  may  all  be  fitted  as  quickly  as  possible 
to  go  on  with  our  warfare  in  the  army  of  Christ, 
under  His  leadership  working  out  the  purposes  of 
God. 

II 

We  have  all  discovered  that  Christ's  words  are 
literally  true,  "  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone."  ^ 
There  is  food  which  no  man  can  see  which  is  in- 
dispensable in  a  sound  body.  It  is  no  exaggerated 
figure  of  speech  to  call  contentment  a  food.  Cer- 
tainly w^ithout  it  the  foods  which  can  be  seen  do  not 
minister  as  they  should  to  the  body.  A  blithe  and 
even  temper  is  a  food.  So  is  a  sense  of  humour. 
So  is  brotherly  kindness.  So  is  a  long  list  of  un- 
seen qualities  which  experience  teaches  us  to  think 
of  when  we  repeat,  "  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread 
alone." 

Thus  we  come  to  appreciate  our  Saviour's  offer 
to  give  the  living  bread."  He  boldly  told  men  that 
He  Himself  is  the  bread  of  life.     The  discourse  in 

^St.  John  VI.  51.  25-/,  Mattheiv  Iv.  4. 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  83 

which  these  words  are  embedded  has  from  early 
times  been  associated  with  the  Holy  Communion. 
The  instinct  which  so  interprets  it  is  valid;  but 
this  discourse  applies  also  to  all  other  ways  in  which 
Christ  gives  Himself  for  men's  sustenance.  We 
learn  what  these  varied  ways  are  by  the  testimony 
of  men. 

"Ill  and  o'erwork'd,  how  fare  you  in  this  scene?" 

was  the  question  the  poet  asked;  and  the  answer 
came  at  once: 

"Bravely!"  said  he;  "for  I  of  late  have  been 

"  Much  cheer'd  with  thoughts  of  Christ,  the  living  bread." 

To  think  of  Him  has  been  food  to  many  a  man. 
Once  a  man  schooled  himself  to  think  of  Christ  each 
time  he  heard  the  clock  strike:  so  he  was  made 
strong  to  resist  temptation.  Reading  the  New  Tes- 
tament has  always  been  a  vital  means  whereby  men 
have  fed  upon  Christ.  They  have  so  become  ac- 
quainted with  His  words  and  deeds  and  with  His 
influence  upon  others,  that  He  has  been  revealed  to 
their  souls  as  the  Living  Bread.  Many  have  found 
the  sustaining  power  of  Christ  through  Christ-filled 


84  HOW  TO  PRAY 

men  and  women.  In  the  hour  of  trouble  the  hu- 
man comforter  has  come,  and  then  often  has  seemed 
to  fade  into  the  background  as  Christ  Himself 
shone  forth  to  give  His  supreme  consolation: 
through  the  best  people  whom  we  have  known, 
Christ  has  often  been  our  heavenly  bread  to  make  it 
possible  for  us  to  live  on. 

ni 

It  is  with  no  forgetfulness  of  these  varied  ways 
in  which  Christ  becomes  to  us  the  living  Bread  that 
we  turn  to  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as 
the  pledge  and  confirmation  of  all  our  intimations 
that  Christ  is  our  bread.  The  Early  Church  some- 
times decided  that  the  living  bread  in  the  Holy 
Communion  was  the  only  bread  we  asked  for;  and, 
for  a  time,  the  word  which  we  translate  "  daily  " 
was  understood  to  mean  *'  supersubstantial,"  refer- 
ring directly  to  the  mystic  food.  Though  this  ex- 
clusive use  is  not  borne  out  by  either  scholarship 
or  Christian  tradition,  we  must  certainly  include  in 
the  meaning  of  "  bread  "  not  only  the  common  bread 
of  every  day,  but  the  spiritual  bread  with  which  our 
souls  are  fed  in  the  Lord's  Supper. 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  85 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  the  primitive  age  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  more  intimately  connected  with 
the  ordinary  meal  than  it  has  been  since.  We  see 
in  St.  Paul's  exhortation  to  the  Corinthians  why 
the  change  had  to  be  made  for  a  frail  human  na- 
ture.^ With  the  protection  to  reverence  which  the 
change  has  brought,  there  has  been  a  corresponding 
loss  in  the  instructive  lesson  that  the  Lord's  Supper 
hallows  all  eating  and  drinking.  For  that  reason 
the  bread  used  in  the  Sacrament  ought  always  to 
be  the  bread  of  common  life,  to  remind  us  that  in 
the  Great  Feast  the  commonest  and  the  most  exalted 
meet.  Moreover  it  will  help  us  to  think  when  in 
the  morning  and  at  noon  and  at  night  we  touch  the 
bread  of  our  physical  life  we  are  touching  also  that 
spiritual  bread  which  Christ  at  all  times  gives  us 
for  our  whole  strength.  Really  all  eating  and 
drinking  is  sacramental:  but  the  Lord's  Supper  is 
necessary  as  the  high  moment  when  we  make  this 
clear  to  ourselves,  and  when  we  are,  by  all  the  words 
and  acts  of  the  Service,  by  our  own  meek  obedience 
to  His  command,  and  by  His  own  most  gracious 
promise,  brought  especially  into  the  sacred  joy  of 

1  I  Corinthians  xi.  20  ff. 


86  HOW  TO  PRAY 

His  presence  as  He  gives  Himself  to  be  our  per- 
petual bread.  The  most  reverent,  the  highest  con- 
ception of  the  Holy  Communion  must  never  lose 
its  reverence  or  its  height;  but  we  must  see  to  it 
that  this  Feast  be  the  leaven  for  all  our  feasting, 
that  it  strike  deep  into  all  our  common  eating  and 
drinking,  in  cottage  and  in  palace,  in  mining  camp 
and  in  general's  tent,  in  little  boats  on  the  sea,  and 
in  canteens  just  behind  the  front  after  a  savage 
battle,  in  the  business  man's  lunch  room  and  in  the 
holiday  camp  in  the  w^oods.  Not  for  one  moment 
may  we  lower  the  Sacrament  of  Divine  Love,  but 
we  may  and  must  raise  all  our  common  fellowship 
about  the  family  or  friendly  board  till  it  reaches 
the  height  where  it  would  be  fitting  to  invite  as  our 
guest  the  Lord  Jesus.  No  austere  guest  w^ill  He 
be.  The  laughter  shall  go  on.  Little  children  will 
smile  into  His  face  and  be  unafraid.  The  talk  will 
be  the  talk  of  simple,  homely  things;  and  He  w^ill 
be  interested  and  He  will  care.  He  will  come  down 
into  the  trivial  and  the  common,  that  He  may  take 
all  things  up  into  His  own  glory.  Yes,  we  pray, 
"Give  us  our  daily  bread,  even  Christ;  give  Him 
to  us  in  the  Sacram.ent,  and  give  Him  to  us  in  our 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  87 

common  meal ;  give  Him  to  us  for  our  constant  and 
unfailing  Food." 

IV 

Very  likely  there  is  no  more  difficult  word  in  the 
New  Testament  than  the  Greek  word  which  we 
translate  "  daily."  Primitive  Christians,  using  the 
prayer  morning  and  night,  asked  in  the  morning  for 
bread  for  that  day,  and  at  night  asked  for  bread 
for  the  morrow.  We  may  retain  this  thought  by 
accepting  the  marginal  note  in  the  Revision  of  1881, 
"  our  bread  for  the  coming  day."  In  other  words, 
we  are  asking  for  just  enough. 

One  cannot  help  thinking  of  our  Lord's  words 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  concerning  our  trust 
in  God's  provision  for  our  needs:  the  heavenly  Fa- 
ther who  feeds  the  birds  of  the  air  would  surely 
feed  His  human  children.  Therefore  He  said,  "  Be 
not  anxious  for  the  morrow:  for  the  morrow  will 
be  anxious  for  itself."  ^  When  we  ask  bread  for 
the  immediate  day,  we  are  provident,  but  not  anx- 
ious. We  are  thinking  of  enough  for  efficiency, 
and    not    for   exaggerated    desiies.     A   number   of 

1  St.  Matt/ie%u  vi.  34. 


88  HOW  TO  PRAY 

years  ago  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  honourable 
members  of  our  national  Congress  announced  that 
he  would  be  obliged  to  give  up  his  national  serv- 
ice, in  which  he  was  never  more  needed,  and  re- 
turn to  his  profession,  that  he  might  before  he  ended 
his  career  earn  a  considerable  sum  of  money  for  his 
children.  It  was  a  pitiful  illustration  of  being  anx- 
ious for  the  distant  days ;  it  was  out  of  harmony  with 
the  Lord's  Prayer.  For  his  inheritance  to  his  chil- 
dren was  justly  in  a  righteous  fame  and  not  in 
money.  Why  could  he  not  have  served  his  country 
till  he  could  serve  no  longer?  The  need  for  his 
skill  in  government  was  pathetically  evident.  And 
his  children,  even  if  poor,  would  go  on  to  perhaps 
better  lives  if  they  were  aware  of  their  father's 
sacrifice,  and  were  compelled  to  work  quite  as  hard 
as  he  had  worked.  More  children  fail  to  be  as 
good  and  great  as  their  fathers  because  they  have 
too  much,  than  because  they  have  only  barely 
enough,  or  even  too  little.  They  ought  not  to  make 
it  fantastic  to  teach  their  children  to  say,  "  Give  us 
this  day  our  daily  bread." 

When  w^e  talk  of  the  difficulty  of  the  times,  and 
chatter  about  the  luxuries  which  once  we  had,  and 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  89 

which  now  we  must  forego,  w^e  ought  to  have  some 
brave  poor  man  come  to  laugh  us  out  of  counte- 
nance; best  of  all  would  it  be  if  we  should  try  to 
think  what  the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth  would  say 
to  us.  To  a  rational  man  who  feels  the  thrust  of 
reality  and  who  feels  the  encumbrance  of  mere 
things,  there  is  often  the  wish  that  he  might  throw 
all  his  possessions  out  of  the  window,  and  start 
life  over  in  bare  rooms,  and  those  few  and  small: 
he  so  longs  to  see  the  trees,  and  the  face  of  a  friend, 
and  God,  that  he  would  sweep  all  the  playthings 
out,  and  be  unembarrassed  by  their  mockery  and 
futility.  The  monks  were  not  fools  when  they  took 
to  their  cells.  The  tragedy  came  when  the  monas- 
teries became  so  clogged  with  possessions  that  there 
was  no  room  for  God.  A  man  ought  to  call  up 
his  sense  of  humour  and  think  twice  before  he  talks 
about  the  things  he  cannot  do  without.  He  can 
do  without  everything  that  is  material  except  his 
daily  bread, —  and  God  commands  him  to  ask  for 
that. 

As  a  corollary  to  this  truth  we  might  profitably 
consider  how  far  a  man  should  think  of  his  future 
work.     The  boy  who  explains  to  his  teachers  that 


90  HOW  TO  PRAY 

he  need  not  do  his  lessons  well,  because  he  is  going 
into  business  when  school  days  are  over,  is  apt  to 
fail  in  business  as  well  as  in  school.  The  boy  who 
asks  to  do  thoroughly  his  task  for  the  coming  day  is 
the  boy  who  can  be  counted  on  in  the  long  future. 
The  discontented  dreamers  admit  that  they  are  slack 
now,  but  they  say,  "  Just  give  me  what  I  want,  and 
see  what  I  can  do !  "  Ordinarily  no  chance  awakes 
them.  A  distinguished  leader,  who  employed  young 
men,  was  wont  to  say,  "  I  can  always  tell  the  man 
who  will  succeed :  he  does  more  each  day  than  is  ex- 
pected of  him." 

Another  corollary  to  this  thought  about  what  we 
shall  ask  God  to  give  us  day  by  day,  is  the  definite 
need  which  especially  applies  to  each  one  of  us. 
Let  us  suppose  that  a  man  has  a  bad  habit,  into 
which  he  falls  again  and  again,  and  from  which, 
after  each  fall,  he  prays  frantically  to  be  delivered. 
He  prays  never  in  all  the  future  to  fall  into  his  sin 
again.  Would  he  not  have  better  chance  of  success 
if  he  prayed  each  day  that  on  that  day  he  might  not 
yield  to  his  weakness?  Our  failure  in  life  often 
comes  from  tackling  too  much  of  it  at  once.  I  think 
it  was  an  old  Caroline  bishop  who  kept  himself  a 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  91 

bachelor  by  resolving  each  day  that  he  would  not 
be  married  on  that  day.  We  smile;  but  I  believe 
he  died  in  that  state  of  life  to  which  he  felt  that 
God  had  called  him.  If  we  are  worried  about  our 
health  or  our  safety,  we  shall  be  more  assured  of 
either  in  so  far  as  we  trust  God  and  ask  Him  for 
just  so  much  of  either  as  may  fit  us  for  a  strong 
man's  task  on  the  coming  day.  So  shall  we  be  pre- 
pared for  long  life,  filled  with  hard  work  up  to 
old  age.  Why  should  we  not  pray  for  all  things 
just  for  the  coming  day! 

One  more  corollary  I  add.  There  are  two  ways 
of  asking  God  for  help:  one  is  directly;  the  other 
is  through  one  of  His  servants.  Sometimes  a  man 
or  a  woman  who  has  always  hitherto  had  enough, 
becomes  desperately  poor.  The  want  is  kept  secret. 
I  am  not  thinking  of  almost  professional  beggars, 
who  appeal  to  every  known  source  of  supply,  and 
make  no  effort  whatsoever  towards  self-support.  I 
am  thinking  of  the  self-respecting  people  to  whom 
the  revelation  of  their  need  is  agony.  These  needy 
ones  are  not  fair  to  a  loving  God  when  they  will 
not  tell  one  of  His  disciples  their  penury.  Before 
any  such  accuses  God  of  not  answering  his  prayer 


92  HOW  TO  PRAY 

for  bread  for  the  coming  day,  let  him  bethink  him 
whether  he  has  completely  uttered  his  prayer. 

V 

Finally,  the  daily  bread  for  which  we  pray  is  not 
mine;  it  is  *' ours."  If  we  all  prayed,  with  full 
hearts,  that  all  of  us  should  have  enough  for  the 
coming  day,  such  pitiful  poverty  as  I  have  just 
mentioned  would  not  long  be  undiscovered.  The 
people  who  give  to  every  brazen  beggar  on  the 
doorstep,  and  who  think  that  thereby  they  have  ful- 
filled their  responsibility  to  the  hungry,  have  little 
imagination  to  seek  the  really  poor  who  live  up  many 
flights  of  stairs  and  who  in  well-brushed,  though 
threadbare,  clothes  courageously  pass  them  on  the 
street.  We  need  too  that  still  larger  imagination 
which  will  so  improve  conditions  that  every  man 
who  is  honest  and  will  work  will  surely  have 
enough.  '  When  changes  are  swift,  they  are  apt  to 
be  hectic;  and  while  many  become  rich,  many  also 
sink  into  deeper  want.  We  need  too  that  sensi- 
tive imagination  which  will  make  us  ashamed  to 
have  so  much  that  we  shall  be  the  envy  of  some  and 
the  despair  of  others.     Each  man  may  so  use  what 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  93 

God  has  allowed  him  to  have  that  he  will  be  a  co- 
worker with  God  in  answering  the  prayer  for  daily 
bread;  he  will  be  God's  minister  in  giving  it  to 
those  who  on  that  day  have  it  not. 

We  think  gratefully  of  men  and  women  who  in 
methods  which  are  truly  practical,  have  lived  out  in 
the  sincerity  of  their  lives  the  petition,  "  Give  us 
this  day  the  daily  bread  of  all  of  us."  There  are 
men  and  women  in  settlement  houses  devoting  all 
their  time  to  knowing  what  are  the  needs  of  the 
poor.  The  day  nursery  is  teaching  mothers  how  to 
care  for  their  children.  There  are  men  like  the 
philanthropist  Charles  Booth,  in  London,  who  have 
gone  to  live  in  the  homes  of  the  poor,  that  they 
might  know  at  first  hand,  exactly  how  the  poor  live, 
just  what  their  joys  and  sorrows  are.  They  demand 
facts  not  theories.  There  are  men  like  Jacob  Riis, 
in  New  York,  who  have  planned  open  spaces  in  the 
city  density,  and  who  have  created  understanding 
and  sympathy  in  all  men's  hearts.  There  are  men 
everywhere  who  are  honestly  praying,  in  the  re- 
membrance of  a  common  humanity,  with  an  out- 
reaching  brotherliness  which  forgets  no  one,  **  Our 
Father  .  .  .  give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES 

AS  WE  FORGIVE  THOSE  WHO  TRESPASS 

AGAINST  US 


VII 


FORGIVE    US   OUR  TRESPASSES 
AS  WE   FORGIVE  THOSE  WHO  TRESPASS  AGAINST   US 

THE  noun  in  the  first  clause  of  the  fifth  peti- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Prayer  is,  in  St.  Matthew, 
"debts";  in  St.  Luke,  "sins."  The  noun  or  its 
equivalent  in  the  second  clause  is,  in  St.  Matthew, 
"debtors";  in  St.  Luke,  "every  one  that  is  in- 
debted to  us."  These  are  literal  translations  of 
the  Greek  text.  To  make  the  meaning  which  was 
clear  to  our  Lord's  disciples  clear  also  to  the  Gen- 
tile world  and  to  later  ages,  it  is  evident  that 
"  debts  "  and  "  debtors,"  eloquent  with  significance 
to  a  Jew  were  not  enough.  To  a  Jew  debt  was 
the  most  picturesque  synonym  of  sin.  We  know 
from  St.  Paul's  self-accusations  how  sinister  and 
overwhelming  the  thought  of  indebtedness  to  God 
became  to  a  conscientious  man  of  his  race,  because 
by  no  possibility  could  he  of  himself  pay  the  debt 
97 


98  HOW  TO  PRAY 

he  owed  to  God.  In  days  when  men  were  im- 
prisoned for  debt,  the  word  was  perhaps  more  nearly 
adequate.  St.  Luke,  as  a  writer  for  the  Gentiles, 
used  a  synonym  which  the  Gentiles  would  more 
easily  understand, —  the  word  "  sins  " ;  while  still 
retaining  the  figure  of  the  debtor  in  the  second 
clause.  The  difficulty  with  a  literal  translation  of 
St.  Luke's  version  of  the  petition  is  that  we  lose 
the  balance  which  is,  for  example,  perfectly  main- 
tained in  our  Lord's  Parable  of  the  Unmerciful  Serv- 
ant,^ wherein,  after  the  servant  has  refused  to  for- 
give his  fellow-servant's  debt,  the  master  of  the 
unforgiving  man  refuses  to  forgive  his  debt.  The 
problem  for  an  accurate  translation  is  to  secure  a 
word  which  will  at  least  plainly  include  so  strong 
a  term  as  sins,  and  yet  will  be  apphcable  to  the  re- 
lationships between  man  and  man.^ 

The  words  of  Christ  in  the  immediate  context 
in  St.  Matthew's  account  supply  the  solution:  "  If 
ye  forgive  men  their  trespasses,  your  heavenly  Fa- 

^St.  Mattheiv  xviii.  23  ff. 

2  The  way  sins  might  be  spoken  of  outside  the  direct 
relationship  to  God  is  shown  in  the  prodigal  son's  con- 
fession to  his  father,  "  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
heaven  and  in  thy  sight."     {St.  Luke  xv.  21.) 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      99 

ther  will  also  forgive  you :  but  if  ye  forgive  not  men 
their  trespasses,  neither  will  your  Father  forgive 
your  trespasses."  ^  Therefore  it  was  a  happy  union 
of  scholarship  and  clearness  of  meaning  which  trans- 
lated the  literal  word  "debts"  of  St.  Matthew 
into  "  trespasses,"  and  the  word  *'  debtors "  into 
"  them  that  trespass  against  us,"  as  we  find  in  the 
Prymer  of  1538,'  and  as  we  find  still  in  the  Book 

^St.  Mattheiv  vi.  14  f.     Also  St.  Mark  xi.  25  f. 

2  The  word  "trespasses"  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  was 
brought  into  the  "  Prymer  "  from  Tyndale's  version.  That 
Tyndale  so  translated  the  petition  is  in  itself  an  argument 
for  retaining  the  word  "  trespasses,"  for  his  boldness  in 
reaching  the  intelligible  word  is  notable.  The  idiomatic 
excellence  of  our  English  Bible  is  pre-eminently  due  to 
him.  Those  who  came  after  him  were  only  revisers,  and 
where  they  have  unnecessarily  changed  his  words,  they 
have  made  the  Bible  less  clear  to  the  people.  Examples 
of  his  skill  as  a  translator  appear  in  such  instances  as 
these:  "And  the  Lorde  was  with  Joseph,  and  he  was  a 
luckie  felowe"  {Gen.  xxxix.  2);  "When  they  had  said 
grace"  {St.  Matthew  xxvi.  30);  "He  sent  forthe  the 
hangman"  {St.  Mark  vi.  27);  "He  sent  to  the  tenauntes 
a  servant"  {ib.  xii.  2);  "There  was  a  certayne  ryche 
man,  which  .  .  .  fared  deliciously  every  day"  {St.  Luke 
xvi.  16);  "Which  for  one  breakfast  sold  his  birthright" 
{Hebreivs  xii.  i6).  Tyndale  was  at  once  a  scholar  and 
a  literary  genius.  He  was  the  first  to  translate  the  New 
Testament  directly  from  the  Greek  into  English;  and  the 
dew  of  the  early  morning  is  on  his  English  prose. 


loo  HOW  TO  PRAY 

of  Common  Prayer.  This  general  liturgical  use  is 
probably  the  simplest  means  of  bringing  to  our  minds 
what  the  Lord  taught. 


We  ask  to  be  forgiven  the  sin,  not  its  punishment. 
A  good  deal  of  religious  effort,  both  before  and  after 
our  Saviour's  earthly  ministry,  was  spent  upon  try- 
ing to  appease  a  supposedly  angry  God,  that  the 
punishment  might  be  cancelled.  Bewildered  sinners 
tried  to  buy  God  off;  some  placed  their  babes  in 
the  fiery  arms  of  Moloch;  others  gave  their  chil- 
dren to  the  waters  of  the  Ganges;  and  still  others 
paid  large  sums  to  shorten  the  time  which  God 
might  rightly  expect  of  them  and  their  relatives 
in  Purgatory.  These  conspicuous  examples  tell 
what  people  often  pray  for,  if  they  are  inadequately 
taught,  or  dull  of  mind  and  heart;  doubtless  even 
many  who  pray  the  Lord's  Prayer  are  thinking  of 
the  punishments  of  their  sins  more  than  of  the  sins 
themselves. 

It  must  be  understood  definitely  that  we  are  ask- 
ing God  to  take  away  our  sinfulness. 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      loi 

n 

To  the  end  that  we  may  desire  to  be  rid  of  our 
sins,  we  must  recognize  them.  Misdemeanours, 
crimes,  vices,  faults,  mistakes,  offences  may  all  be 
considered  as  bounded  within  strictly  human  rela- 
tionships,—  the  state,  the  family,  the  general  public, 
the  gentry,  the  decent,  the  scholarly,  or  the  experts. 
But  sins  instantly  bring  us  to  the  contrast  in  which 
we  as  sinners  stand  to  God.  We  have  done  some- 
thing which  makes  us  feel,  by  so  much,  separated 
from  God.  In  extreme  cases,  where  men  let  all 
the  sanctions  of  their  lives  go  to  the  winds,  where 
they  do  base  deeds  day  after  day  and  care  nothing 
because  they  do  them,  they  cease  to  say  their  prayers. 
By  a  sound  instinct  they  have  no  wish  to  keep  up 
an  intimacy  with  a  Person  whose  very  nature  is  in- 
consistent with  the  life  they  are  leading.  When  our 
Master  said,  "  The  pure  in  heart  .  .  .  shall  see 
God,"  ^  He  was  announcing  a  fact  which  is  true 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  time.  Conversely 
we  know  that  so  far  as  the  individual  life  has  sin 
in  the  line  of  its  gaze,  the  vision  of  God  is  blotted 

1  St.  Matthew  v.  8. 


I02  HOW  TO  PRAY 

out.  The  man  who  has  any  kind  of  conception  of 
God's  austere  and  complete  righteousness  is  sensi- 
tive to  his  own  shortcomings,  to  his  own  weaknesses, 
to  his  own  ugly  traits.  He  is  at  no  pains  to  dis- 
guise them.  He  plays  with  no  pretty  euphemisms. 
He  beats  his  breast,  and  speaks  frankly  of  his  sins. 
The  best  concrete  evidence  for  these  general 
statements  is  in  the  biographies  of  the  saints,  most  of 
all  in  their  autobiographies.  Even  the  casual  reader 
recognizes  how  extraordinarily  good  they  were.  We 
blush  to  think  how  far  we  are  from  their  standard. 
Yet  there  are  long  pages  where  the  saint  dwells 
with  what  we  think  exaggerated  horror  on  some 
deed  which  we  would  dismiss  from  thought  with- 
out compunction.  In  the  road  he  picked  up  an 
apple  which  had  fallen  from  a  tree  growing  just 
Inside  a  stone  wall.  Or,  he  was  so  intent  upon  a 
problem  of  philosophy  that  he  neglected  to  smile 
at  a  poor  man  who  passed  him  on  the  path.  Such 
minute  examination  into  one's  peccadilloes  seems  to 
us  unnecessary,  tending  to  be  unreal,  almost  a  pose. 
But  the  sincerity  of  the  whole  book  Is  evident.  We 
know  as  we  read  that  to  the  saints  the  reality  of 
God  Imposes  upon  men  the  necessity  of  acknowledge 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      103 

ing  the  reality  of  their  sins.  They  are  like  the 
publican  in  the  Lord's  story  who  was  justified  in 
praying  to  the  Father  in  heaven. 


Ill 

When  a  sane  man  recognizes  God's  spotless  good- 
ness, when  he  recognizes  that  he  has  done  something 
which  makes  him  feel  that  he  Is  farther  from  God 
than  he  was  before  he  did  the  deed,  and  when  he 
recognizes  that  it  is  his  greatest  misfortune  to  allow 
even  to  himself  any  widening  of  the  distance  be- 
tween him  and  his  heavenly  Father,  he  knows  that 
he  must  ask  God  to  forgive  him.  The  normal  re- 
lationship which  should  exist  between  God  and  His 
child  must  be  restored. 

We  find  the  best  illustration  of  the  readjustment 
of  a  partially  broken  relationship  in  the  treatment 
which  a  mother  metes  out  to  her  disobedient  child. 
The  child  is  punished,  because  he  must  be  taught 
that  he  has  done  wrong.  If  the  child  understands 
why  he  is  punished,  any  shade  of  resentment  is 
quickly  lighted  by  the  knowledge  of  his  mother's 
love,  A  famous  English  schoolmaster  who  was  a 
rigid   disciplinarian   always  invited  the  boy  whojfn 


104  HOW  TO  PRAY 

he  had  caned  in  the  morning  to  have  tea  with  him  in 
the  afternoon.  The  good  mother,  I  fancy,  invari- 
ably tries  to  show  more  love  than  usual  in  the  after- 
noon to  the  child  whom  she  has  punished  in  the 
morning.  All  this  is  a  reflection  of  the  love  which 
God  shows  after,  or  even  within,  His  chastisement, 
as  He  makes  known  that  love  to  the  forgiven  soul 
who  pleads  for  His  forgiveness. 

We  are  now  ready  to  see  why  the  man  who  seeks 
forgiveness  of  his  trespasses  thinks  little  of  the  in- 
evitable punishment.  Punishment  is  sometimes  con- 
cealed. As  one  studies  the  inevitability  of  laws  in 
God's  world,  one  is  inclined  to  believe  that  no  sin 
is  without  its  punishment.  The  form  may  be  quite 
different  from  what  one  expected.  The  man  may 
have  dreaded  public  exposure,  loss  of  the  respect  of 
his  friends;  he  may  not  be  aware  that  the  sin  has 
made  him  callous,  has  blunted  the  sharp  edge  of  his 
honour.  He  may  have  overlooked  a  punishment 
more  grievous  than  he  had  expected.  Punishments 
when  understood  are  seen  to  be  part  of  God's  love. 
They  are  signals;  just  as  the  slight  illness  reveals  a 
weakness  in  the  human  body  which  now  being 
known  can  be  watched:  accordingly  the  man,  thus 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      105 

Informed  of  his  weakness,  may  so  guard  his  health 
that  he  may  long  outlive  in  years  and  usefulness 
the  men  who  never  have  attended  to  the  warnings 
God  has  given  them  by  the  way.  So  punishments 
for  our  spiritual  breaking  of  God's  laws  may  recall 
us  to  the  greater  risk  opening  before  us.  To  be 
separated  from  God  is  our  one  awful  fear.  We 
thank  Him  for  giving  us  temporary  fright  and  pain 
that  He  may  keep  us  close  to  the  consciousness  of 
His  love. 

To  ask  God's  forgiveness  for  our  trespasses  is, 
further,  to  disown  them.  We  thereby  say  to  our- 
selves and  to  Him  that  they  are  foreign  to  us. 
What  we  desire,  therefore,  in  our  prayer,  is  that 
we  may  be  assured  by  God  Himself  that  He  by  His 
absolute  authority  separates  them  from  us.  Some- 
times people  like  to  believe  that  they  are  not  re- 
sponsible for  what  they  have  done:  they  blame  some 
cruel,  overbearing  influence,  seen  or  unseen,  and  say 
that  they  themselves  did  not  consent.  A  man  who 
makes  such  a  plea  has  surrendered  his  personality, 
and  is  less  than  the  beasts, —  he  is  nothing  but  a 
stupid  machine  ready  to  be  manipulated  by  any 
knave  or  fool  that  passes  by.     The   right  motive 


io6  HOW  TO  PRAY 

hidden  in  such  folly  is  the  desire  to  be  separated 
from  the  hideous  deed  which  has  been  done.  The 
only  way  to  accomplish  that  is  to  confess  it  to  God, 
then  to  disown  it,  and  finally  to  know  that  God  has 
answered  the  prayer. 

God's  complete  forgiveness  comes  when  the  power 
is  won  which  Christ  bestowed  upon  the  sinful 
woman,  when  He  said,  *'  Go,  and  sin  no  more."  ^ 
We  do  not  ordinarily,  I  fear,  conquer  the  besetting 
sin,  upon  God's  first  assurance  of  forgiveness.  Per- 
haps He  must  forgive  us  again  and  again,  before 
we  try  our  hardest,  and  become  successful  in  giving 
that  form  of  gratitude  which  He  most  desires, 
whereby  that  sin  is  permanently  separated  from  our 
lives.  In  any  case,  we  must  admit  to  ourselves 
that  it  is  not  enough  to  have  a  glow  of  happy  relief 
after  we  have  acknowledged  our  trespasses  to  God, 
after  we  have  felt  anew  that  He  receives  us  as  the 
father  of  the  prodigal  received  the  dazed  boy  in  our 
Lord's  parable.  We  must  fix  in  our  souls  the  firm 
determination  to  show  that  we  accept  the  forgive- 
ness, wholly  receiving  the  heavenly  power  which  is 
then  bestowed,  so  that  we  shall  live  always  in  the 

^St.  John  viii.  ii. 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      107 

Father's  house  and  go  no  more  among  the  brambles 
and  the  swine,  for  ever. 

A  few  words  ought  to  be  said  about  the  people 
who  think  to  keep  themselves  free  of  sins  by  saying 
that  there  are  no  such  things.  Sins,  they  protest, 
dwell  only  in  Imagination:  to  get  rid  of  them  is  to 
forget  them.  There  is  a  kernel  of  truth  In  this,  a 
very  small  kernel.  That  truth  Is  that  we  are  much 
more  likely  to  be  good  if  we  fill  our  thoughts  with 
the  good  and  the  beautiful  things  of  life,  than  if 
we  dwell  on  the  sordid  and  uncanny  things  which 
we  wish  to  avoid.  The  most  noticeable  outcome 
of  such  a  theory  of  sin  Is  that  it  cultivates  a  mar- 
vellous serenity.  But  while  certain  faults  become 
less  conspicuous,  the  discriminating  can  detect  cer- 
tain otlier  faults  which  our  Saviour  put  down  In  a 
black  list;  such  as  self-satisfaction,  minimizing  the 
virtues  of  people  with  different  theories  than  their 
own,  failure  to  see  the  people  who  are  in  trouble, 
a  drawing  up  of  skirts  and  a  shutting  of  eyes  when 
going  through  what  others  call  scenes  of  horror, 
lest  their  peace  be  withdrawn,  something  akin  to 
the  spiritual  selfishness  of  the  Pharisee  who  went 
up  to  the  temple  to  pray.     An  old  saint  travelling 


io8  HOW  TO  PRAY 

on  the  railway  was  approached  by  a  smugly  reli- 
gious person  who  asked  him  in  an  oily  voice  if  he 
had  found  peace.  "  No,"  thundered  the  saint,  "  I 
have  found  war."  The  placid  faces  of  those  who 
ignore  the  reality  of  sin  are  truly  wonderful:  but 
serenity  is  too  dear  a  price  to  pay  in  a  world  where 
God  has  allowed  tremendous  risks,  where  watchful- 
ness is  essential,  and  where  many  men  and  women 
are  clearly  in  the  most  wretched  plight,  in  body,  in 
mind,  and  in  soul.  No  one  need  be  astonished  if 
the  saints,  who  have  gone  deep  into  experience,  are 
scandalized  by  the  false  security  of  good  people  who 
will  not  see  what  lies  across  the  path  which  leads 
up  to  God's  forgiveness. 

IV 

Blindness  such  as  I  have  just  described  becomes 
the  more  culpable  when  we  remember  that  we  are 
not  praying,  one  by  one,  "  Father,  forgive  me  "  ; 
but  we  are  saying,  "  Our  Father,  forgive  us."  We 
are  members  one  of  another.  Unquestionably  some 
men  are  better  than  others,  even  when  conditions 
are  quite  the  same.  "  Then  shall  two  men  be  in 
the  field;  one  is  taken,  one  is  left.     Two  women 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      109 

shall  be  grinding  at  the  mill ;  one  is  taken,  and  one 
is  left."  ^  With  the  brotherhood  which  our  Lord 
both  taught  and  lived  we  know  that  we  cannot  be 
saved  in  the  truest  sense  by  saving  ourselves  alone. 
We  are  saved,  strictly  speaking,  only  so  far  as  the 
world  is  saved  with  us.  The  love  by  which  Christ 
gave  Himself  to  save  the  world,  is  a  love  which  He 
meant  the  disciple  to  share  with  Him.  We  cannot 
be  serene  when  we  think  that,  though  we  have  been 
fairly  decent,  there  are  thieves,  murderers,  liars,  and 
a  whole  catalogue  of  disastrous  souls  all  around  us. 
A  little  reflection  would  lead  us  to  ask  ourselves  if 
perchance  one  of  these  scoundrels  might  have  been 
kept  from  his  sad  course  if  we  had  only  given  him 
a  bit  of  encouragement  when  we  had  the  chance, 
or  dropped  a  kindly  word  of  warning  as  we  saw 
him  begin  to  slip  downhill,  or  even  had  dared  to  say 
that  we  loved  his  father  and  for  his  sake  cared  very 
much  that  he,  the  son,  should  be  like  him.  If  only 
we  had  shown  in  some  tiniest  way  that  we  cared, — 
what  a  difference  there  might  have  been!  Several 
years  ago  a  young  man  in  a  small  New  England 
village  went  to  the  devil.  Death  cut  short  his  mad 
1  St.  Matt/iezv  xxiv.  40  f. 


iia  HOW  TO  PRAY 

career.  The  neighbours  gathered  for  his  funeral. 
The  minister  shocked  these  neighbours  by  telling 
them  over  the  boy's  poor  body  that  they  were  to 
blame  for  his  failure  and  death.  The  conditions 
of  the  village  made  his  defeat  not  only  possible,  but 
easy.  So  the  man  of  God  arraigned  the  people 
who  forgot  that  they  had  responsibility  for  their 
brother. 

Therefore,  when  we  come  to  church,  we  confess 
our  sins  all  together.  Each  one  in  the  congregation 
asks  God's  forgiveness  for  all,  including  himself. 
A  man  has  no  pharisaical  citadel  into  which  he  with- 
draws to  plead  for  sins  more  gross  than  his  own. 
The  sins  of  the  others  are  some  way  his.  He  must 
bear  them.  Whatever  goodness  he  may  have  he 
offers  for  their  weakness;  whatever  goodness  the 
others  have  he  seeks  for  his  own  infirmities.  He 
cannot  be  satisfied  to  be  saved  alone.  He  must 
stand  forgiven  among  brethren  who  are  also  for- 
given. 

In  an  earlier  part  of  this  book  ^  I  touched  upon 
the  question  whether  our  Master  prayed  His  prayer 
with  His  disciples.     This  petition  about  forgiveness 

1  Pp.  21  ff. 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      iii 

is  the  one  clause  which  makes  many  commentators 
feel  that  He  could  not  have  said  it  with  them.  Of 
course  we  know  that  He  Himself  had  no  trespasses 
for  which  to  ask  God's  forgiveness.  But  everything 
in  His  life  points  to  the  fact  that  He  never  meant 
to  keep  His  perfection  for  Himself.  How  the  dis- 
ciples must  have  thrilled  with  strength  if  they  heard 
His  strong  voice  saying  with  them,  "  Forgive  us  "! 
He  was  not  separate  from  His  brethren.  How  can 
we  for  a  moment  doubt  that  He  who  bore  our  sins 
upon  the  tree,  bore  them  also  in  prayer! 


The  condition  on  which  we  are  taught  to  base 
the  plea  for  our  forgiveness  is,  '*  As  we  forgive  those 
who  trespass  against  us." 

The  first  principle  to  grasp  here  is  that  it  is 
God's  nature  to  forgive.  We  know  what  God's 
nature  is,  not  only  through  the  Bible,  but  also 
through  the  people  who  most  transparently  allow 
Him  to  shine  through  their  lives.  The  father  of 
the  prodigal  son  was  waiting  for  his  son  every  day. 
The  forgiveness  was  there:  the  boy  needed  only  to 
come  and   get   it.     No  one  ever   knew   a  genuine 


112  HOW  TO  PRAY 

mother  who  did  not  have  forgiveness  overflowing 
in  her  heart  for  the  misguided  son  who  had  brought 
to  her  sorrow  deeper  than  death:  he  needs  only  to 
come  and  get  it, —  nay,  she  Is  going  out  in  unutter- 
able love  in  every  conceivable  way  to  find  him.  The 
late  President  Hyde  somewhere  has  told  the  story  of 
a  physician  whom  he  knew  during  his  student  days 
in  Andover.  This  doctor's  son  was  killed,  appar- 
ently by  a  railway  locomotive,  for  his  body  lay 
mangled  on  the  track.  The  doctor,  with  trained 
observation,  saw  marks  on  the  throat  and  knew 
that  his  son  had  been  strangled;  but  he  said  noth- 
ing. One  night  the  murderer  came  to  the  doctor's 
office  to  confess  his  crime.  The  doctor  said :  *'  You 
need  not  confess.  I  know."  "  Then,"  said  the 
murderer,  "what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?" 
"  Nothing,"  answered  the  father.  "  I  have  only  one 
request  to  make  of  you.  Promise  me  that  every  day 
as  long  as  you  live  you  will  repeat  from  your  heart 
the  Lord's  Prayer."  Forgiveness  like  that  Is  a 
spark  struck  off  from  the  forgiveness  of  God.  We 
begin  to  dream  what  an  astonishing  love  God  must 
have,  awaiting  us,  that  He  can  inspire  in  His  faith- 
ful servant  forgiveness  so  transcendent. 


FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES      113 

What  then  ever  prevents  God's  forgiveness  from 
taking  effect  in  men?  The  sun  is  always  shining; 
but  that  it  may  be  effective  in  heat  and  light  and 
life,  there  must  be  atmosphere  in  w^hich  its  rays 
may  kindle  fire.  That  God's  forgiveness  may  be 
realized  in  us,  we  must  have  a  certain  quality  of 
atmosphere  in  our  lives  to  receive  it.  What  that 
atmosphere  is,  Christ  tells  us  when  He  teaches  us 
to  say,  "  As  we  forgive  those  who  trespass  against 
us."     The  atmosphere  is  the  forgiving  spirit. 

The  hard,  relentless  life  is  the  most  to  be  feared 
by  any  one  who  loves  that  life.  The  prosaic  good 
people  of  Christ's  day  were  distracted  by  the  friend- 
ships He  made.  People  with  fixed,  self-assured 
characters  He  passed  by.  He  admitted  to  His  in- 
timacy people  like  Zacchaeus  and  the  Magdalen, 
people  whose  past  was  quite  wrong  but  whose  pres- 
ent was  tender  and  open,  ready  for  God's  forgive- 
ness. They  received  what  the  formality  and  hard- 
ness of  the  respectable  could  not  receive. 

Sometimes  friends  have  explained  to  me  with  elab- 
orate emphasis  that  though  in  general  they  will  have 
the  forgiving  spirit,  there  is  one  man  or  one  nation 
not  to  be  considered  for  a  moment  in  such  forgive- 


114  HOW  TO  PRAY 

ness.  They  revert  to  the  Old  Testament  righteous- 
ness which  required  an  eye  for  an  eye.  The  only 
way  to  redeem  a  man  or  a  nation  is  Christ's  way. 
Forgiveness  must  be  received  as  well  as  given.  If 
it  is  used  by  the  one  for  whom  it  is  intended  as  a 
bauble  to  be  played  with  and  tricked,  the  sin  re- 
mains. But  if  even  a  little  of  Christ's  spirit  shines 
through  it,  if  it  is  recognized  as  the  magnificent  gift 
it  is,  drawn  from  the  life  of  God,  it  will  be  received. 
A  ransomed  soul,  a  ransomed  nation  will  come  forth 
out  of  the  fire. 

However  all  this  may  be  for  the  person  who  is, 
by  the  pleader  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  forgiven,  there 
can  be  no  least  doubt  what  is  the  sole  condition  by 
which  the  pleader  himself  may  receive  the  forgive- 
ness of  God.  He  must  forgive  as  God  in  Christ 
forgives.  He  must  banish  every  atom  of  hardness 
and  every  scrap  of  self-complacent  justification  for 
it.  He  must  soften  his  heart.  He  must  let  in  the 
love.  He  must  forgive  all  men,  even  his  enemies, 
as  he  would  presume  to  accept  the  forgiveness  of 
our  Father  in  heaven. 


LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION 
BUT  DELIVER  US  FROM  EVIL 


VIII 

LEAD   US   NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION 
BUT  DELIVER   US   FROM    EVIL 


THE  sixth,  and  last,  petition  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  a  paradox.  Between  the  two 
clauses  of  the  petition  we  must  understand  words 
in  the  heart  of  the  man  who  prays,  expressing  a 
growing  realization  of  the  deep  complexities  of  life. 
We  might  imagine  the  petition  to  take  a  form  some- 
what like  this:  "Lead  us  not  into  temptation. 
But  if  thou  dost,  deliver  us  from  the  evil." 

There  is  the  same  paradox  in  our  Saviour's  prayer 
in  Gethsemane.  He  prayed  the  Father  to  take  the 
cup  of  suffering  from  Him ;  and  then  —  after  how 
long  an  interval  we  cannot  know  —  He  begged  the 
Father  to  let  the  Father's  will,  not  His,  be  done. 
Here  too  we  must  imagine  words  which  need  not 
be  spoken  to  be  understood:  "  Father,  let  this  cup 
117 


ii8  HOW  TO  PRAY 

pass  from  me.     Nevertheless,  if  it  be  thy  will  that 
I  drink  it,  thy  will  not  mine  be  done." 

It  is  the  fault  of  much  of  our  thinking  about  God 
and  the  Bible  that  we  strive  to  explain  away  all 
difficulties,  all  contradictions,  all  that  seems  to  us 
illogical.  The  man  who  has  lived  intensely,  who  al- 
lows himself  to  go  far  in  different  directions  where 
contemplation  leads  him,  prefers  to  leave  some  con- 
victions unfinished,  rather  than  to  round  them  off 
and  fit  them  into  a  neat  system.  He  knows  that 
life  is  not  smoothly  rounded  out;  many  of  one's 
greatest  days  end  in  mj^stery  which  can  only  be  left 
in  faith  to  God.  So  in  His  own  words  the  Lord 
Christ  is  teaching  us  that  Prayer  is  not  a  dead, 
exact,  and  logical  proposition,  but  a  reality  quiver- 
ing with  life.  Therefore  we  are  not  afraid  to  enter 
its  mystery,  because  amid  all  the  baffling  confusions 
of  daily  experience,  we  are,  as  little  children,  trust- 
ing ourselves  to  the  perpetual  guidance  of  our  Fa- 
ther in  heaven. 

II 

That  we  are  told  to  pray  about  temptation  shows 
us  how  cautious  we  ought  to  be  in  approaching  it. 


LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION    119 

There  are  two  outstanding  facts  about  it  which  we 
must  face. 

The  first  of  these  facts  is  that  temptation  makes 
for  strength.  The  lad  hemmed  in  by  the  protection 
of  a  home  is  at  length  sent  forth  into  the  tempta- 
tions which  beset  the  life  of  a  school.  He  meets 
other  boys,  he  comes  into  contact  with  ideals  lower 
than  he  has  known  at  home,  perhaps  also  with  many 
ideals  which  are  higher.  Then,  he  is  sent  into  still 
larger  freedom,  when  the  school  is  exchanged  for 
the  college;  the  temptations  are  greater,  and  the 
protection  is  almost  wholly  the  strength  which  he 
has  acquired  in  his  own  character.  It  is  rational  to 
say  that  the  boy  could  not  be  the  strong  man  he  is 
becoming,  had  not  his  parents  had  the  courage  to 
send  him  out  of  the  secure  shelter  of  the  home  into 
constantly  wider  areas  of  experience  and  tempta- 
tion. Temptation  is  evidently  a  necessar>^  element 
in  the  accumulation  of  strength  in  human  charac- 
ter. 

The  other  fact  which  we  must  keep  before  us  is 
that  temptation  involves  startling  and  often  tragic 
risks.  One  never  can  be  quite  sure  what  man  or 
woman  will  come  through  the  temptations  of  life 


I20  HOW  TO  PRAY 

unscarred,  or  what  one  will  come  through  a  com- 
plete moral  wreck.  The  risks  are  real  risks.  We 
are  not  playing  at  dolls.  The  fire  is  real  fire,  and 
burns  what  it  touches.  The  sharpness  of  the  blade 
is  acute,  and  cuts  cruelly  what  it  slashes.  The 
poison  is  real  poison,  and  kills. 

Now  if  temptation  makes  us  strong  we  may  ac- 
cept it  as  a  gift  from  God.  But  it  is  so  perilous  a 
gift  that  we  must  straitly  obey  the  command  of 
Christ  when  he  said,  "  Watch  ye  and  pray,  lest  ye 
enter  into  temptation."  ^  We  cannot  trifle  with  it; 
we  cannot  go  knocking  at  its  door,  telling  ourselves 
that  it  is  gay  and  interesting  to  see  all  of  life;  we 
cannot  relax  for  one  moment  our  caution.  The 
readers  of  negative  books  which  tear  down  old  sanc- 
tions, and  construct  nothing  to  put  in  their  place, 
are  fools.  They  play  with  the  temptation  to  be 
Bohemians.  The  people  who  indulge  wild  imagi- 
nation through  suggestive  art,  or  bad  books,  or  loose 
plays,  or  the  inner  secrecies  of  their  own  minds,  are 
fools.  They  forget,  if  they  ever  knew,  the  easy 
descent  from  suggestion  to  a  picture  hung  up  in  the 
mind,  then  pleasure  in  looking  upon  the  picture  in 

^St.  Mark  xiv.  38. 


LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION     121 

the  mind,  then  the  thought  that  it  is  not  so  bad 
after  all, —  and  then  the  deed  itself  is  done !  The 
one  Perfect  Man  **  was  tempted  in  all  points  like  as 
we  are  " ;  ^  He  knew  by  experience  what  ghastly 
risks  lurk  in  every  temptation,  and  He  therefore 
taught  His  brethren  to  beseech  God  to  lead  us  not 
into  temptation.  God  is  invited  to  watch  with  us 
lest  we  enter  into  temptation.  The  watchfulness 
is  so  requisite,  so  urgent,  that  no  human  strength 
is  enough.  We  cry  to  God  to  reinforce  our  watch- 
fulness. 

Ill 

The  petition  about  temptation  clearly  implies  that 
God  gives  us  temptation.  If  we  accept  the  truth 
that  life  is  not  probation,  but  education,  we  cannot 
believe  that  an  element  in  our  education  so  fraught 
with  destiny  as  this  should  be  in  the  fluctuations  of 
chance  or  in  the  ultimate  power  of  any  strength 
but  His  own.  We  may  conceive  that  in  God's 
bestowal  of  human  freedom.  He  allows  men  to 
tempt  one  another.  In  so  far,  they,  and  not  He, 
become  responsible.     But  the  method  of  education 

^  Hebrews  iv.  15. 


122  HOW  TO  PRAY 

is  His,  just  as  the  huge  dangerous  school-house  of 
the  universe  is  His;  and  we  do  Him  scant  honour 
when  we  try  to  put  the  responsibility  for  the  method 
of  His  education  elsewhere.  Being  little  and  igno- 
rant, we  tremble  for  the  outcome  of  the  plan.  But 
in  our  best  moments  we  know  that  the  outcome  will 
make  our  fears  ridiculous,  and  the  divine  plan  will 
be  justified  even  to  the  Father's  frightened  chil- 
dren. 

Profound  comfort  is  locked  in  the  w^ords  of  St. 
Paul:  "  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer  you 
to  be  tempted  above  that  ye  are  able;  but  will  with 
the  temptation  also  make  a  way  of  escape,  that  ye 
may  be  able  to  bear  it."  ^  We  feel  at  once  how 
closely  the  loving  Father  watches  over  us.  How- 
ever indirectly  we  may  think  Him  responsible  for 
the  temptation,  He  sees  to  it  that  the  help  is  always 
greater  than  the  trial.  We  cannot  say  that  the 
temptation  so  overwhelmed  us  that  we  could  not 
escape  it.  The  helps  He  throws  about  the  boy  in 
college,  for  example,  are  legion:  his  mother's  letter, 
reminding  him  of  her  love  and  confidence;  the 
amazing  belief  of  a  revered  teacher  assuring  him  that 

1 1  Corinthians  x.  13. 


LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION    123 

he  has  a  great  career  ahead  of  him  if  he  will  work 
hard  at  a  certain  problem  for  which  he  has  incipient 
genius;  the  good  opinion  of  a  certain  group  of  peo- 
ple—  he  couldn't  bear  to  have  them  shrink  from 
him;  the  beckoning  of  his  own  sense  of  honour; 
and  the  voice  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  in  his  conscience. 
One  of  the  reasons  for  man's  watchfulness  in  the 
presence  of  temptation  is  that  he  may  know  how 
rich  an  array  of  helps  the  Lord  God  is  putting  im- 
mediately before  him.  God  is  providing  him  with 
the  power  to  get  the  strength  which  the  conquest 
of  temptation  will  yield  to  him. 

IV 

Thus  we  come  to  the  final  words  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  "  Deliver  us  from  evil."  There  is  little 
doubt  that  in  tlie  New  Testament,  as  interpreted 
by  itself  and  by  the  early  Church,  this  section  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  is  a  petition  for  deliverance  from  the 
evil  one.^  Whether  the  interpretation  be  "  Satan," 
as  the  leader  of  evil  forces,  or  **  all  that  is  evil  " 

1  For  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  critical  aspect  of 
this  question,  see  F.  H.  Chase,  The  Lord's  Prayer  in  the 
Early  Church,  pp.  71  ff. 


124  HOW  TO  PRAY 

(personal  or  not)  Is  so  bound  up  with  the  growth 
of  Old  Testament  doctrine  and  the  influence  of 
neighbouring  nations  upon  the  Hebrew  people,  that 
the  candid  scholar  is  very  modest  in  giving  his  de- 
cision. Probably  the  Church  has  not  gone  far  from 
the  meaning  of  our  Lord  in  making  the  prayer 
read,  "  Deliver  us  from  evil."  It  then  may  in- 
clude reference  to  any  degree  of  organized  evil,  un- 
der the  leadership  of  a  king  of  evil,  but  it  Is  not 
limited  to  such  a  reference.  We  are  asking  for 
deliverance  from  evil  wherever  found.  There  are 
several  principles  connected  with  the  whole  matter 
which  we  must  keep  clear. 

In  general,  we  know  that  the  strongest  incentives 
to  good  come  through  personal  heroes.     Each  man^H^ 
who  Is  at  all  fortunate  has  come  into  contact  with  ^ 

some  one  who  has  stirred  him  to  the  bottom  of  his  'b^JT^ 
soul.     Under  God  he  owes  w^hat  good  he  has  ac- 
complished  to   this   reverence   for  his  hero.     Now 
if  this  is  true  on  the  positive  side  It  is  no  less  true    'r^y/M 
on  the  negative  side.     The  most  dangerous  appeals  ^-n^ 
to  evil  are  not  abstract  arguments  in  books,  but  the 
living  examples  of  people  who  have  the  power  of 
attraction.     A  wrong  idea  of  any  sort  Is  Immensely 


LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION    125 

powerful  the  Instant  it  is  incorporated  in  a  person 
who  becomes  a  hero  to  others. 

As  there  are  good  and  bad  men  in  the  flesh,  each 
group  wielding  enormous  influence,  so  we  must  imag-  ,  ^ 

ine  that  there  are  both  good  and  bad  personalities  fo-^'^ 
in  the  spirit  world,  beyond  the  sphere  of  our  pres- 
ent senses.  We  cannot  deny  that  they  may  have 
the  same  relative  influence  upon  us  that  men  have 
while  in  the  body.  Beyond  this  is  the  legitimate 
conception  that  men  and  women  are  not  the  only 
creatures  in  God's  universe;  and  these  too  may  have 
the  choice  between  good  and  evil.  If  so  they  too 
may  have  the  varied  influence  upon  us  which  men 
who  are  good  and  men  who  are  bad  now  have  upon 
us  in  this  visible  world. 

With  such  thoughts  in  mind  we  may  turn  again 
to  think  of  ''  the  evil  one,"  or  Satan.  The  idea  for 
which  Satan  stands  is  that  evil  is  organized.  It  has 
vigorous  and  ingenious  leadership.  But  the  one 
idea  which  the  Church  combats  in  its  creeds,  and  in 
its  chief  teachers  always,  is  that  Satan  is  not  God's 
rival.  The  Hebrews  were  at  one  time  exposed  to 
Persian  dualism;  and  dualism  has  again  and  again 
attacked  the  weaker  minds  of  the  Church.     It  must 


^-^ 


126  HOW  TO  PRAY 

always  be  guarded  against.  God  is  almighty. 
There  is  neither  matter  nor  personality  beyond  His 
power.  He  is  the  universal  Creator  who  is  omnip- 
otent from  eternity  to  eternity.  Satan  can  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  only  a  disobedient  servant. 

The  safest  exegesis  is  the  inclusive  interpretation, 
which  w^ould  mean  evil  in  any  possible  form.  Evil  Jb' 
is  so  deadly  a  foe  that  we  must  call  God  to  protect 
us  from  it  in  whatever  guise  it  may  attack  us. 
When  temptation  gives  us  our  chance  to  quit  us 
like  men,  evil  stands  always  at  the  gate  of  victory. 
We  must  be  swift  to  detect  the  evil,  in  whatever 
likeness  it  may  seek  to  trap  us, —  whether  hideous 
and  evident,  or  charming  and  disguised;  whether  as 
the  abstruse  theory  of  a  false  philosophy  or  as  the 
plausible  manner  of  a  magnetic  man;  whether  in 
the  voices  of  living  men  or  in  the  intangible  forces 
emanating  from  a  vanished  humanity;  whether  from 
bad  men,  seen  or  unseen,  or  from  the  personal  pow- 
ers of  darkness  which  are  not  human  at  all.  The 
soul  must  be  on  its  guard  against  every  imaginable 
source  of  defeat,  with  unresting  vigilance  and  with 
unlimited  imagination. 

When  one  has  thus  convinced  oneself  of  the  in- 


LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION    127 

soluble  mystery  of  evil,  when  one  knows  how  ab- 
surdly inadequate  even  the  strongest  human  weapons 
are  for  such  a  far-flung  warfare  as  this,  then  one 
must  cry  out  for  the  aid  of  Him  who  is  Master  of 
absolutely  all  the  forces  of  the  universe,  personal 
and  impersonal.  If  the  insidious  influence  of  evil 
reaches  up  into  the  personal  and  the  spiritual,  then 
we  must  all  have  the  help  of  the  Supreme  Person 
and  the  Supreme  Spirit  —  God.  Our  prayer  for 
deliverance  lets  Him  do  for  us  what  we  know  that 
He  longs  to  do  for  us, —  we  are  tried  as  by  fire, 
we  are  tempted  as  JjqI?  was  allowed  to  be  tempted, 
we  are  loved  as  Job  was  loved,  and  we  are  saved 
by  a  victory  more  complete  than  Job's,  a  victor}' 
akin  to  that  which  our  Lord  Christ  won  when  He 
demonstrated  that  humanity  can  be  synonymous  with 
perfection.  However  we  have  failed,  however  we 
may  fail  again,  in  that  moment  at  least  we  havt 
shared  His  triumph. 

V 

We  must  recall  that  we  are  not  beseeching  God 
for  deliverance  one  by  one;  we  are  standing  shoul-  ^ 
der  to  shoulder,   as  members  one  of  another,  con- 


128  HOW  TO  PRAY 

sclous  of  a  brotherhood  which  includes  every  hu- 
man being;  we  are  praying  God  that  together  we 
may  escape  evil,  seen  or  unseen. 

In  this  century  we  have  had  the  most  stupendous 
example  in  history  of  the  need  of  organization  to 
combat  evil.  Evil  theories,  evil  philosophies,  evil 
pride,  evil  ambitions,  showing  themselves  in  haughty, 
selfish,  and  cruel  men,  sought  the  enslavement  of  a 
world  which  was  without  organization,  without 
plan.  A  disaster  world-wide  seemed  imminent. 
Then  the  men  who  had  good  instincts  saw  that  no 
sacrifice  of  personal  or  national  preference  was  too 
great  that  the  world  might  be  organized  on  its 
righteous  side.  The  free  nations  were  brought  to 
one  mind  for  the  sake  of  liberty  and  righteousness. 
Just  as  armies  rushed  against  armies,  so  spiritual 
forces  were  arrayed  against  spiritual  forces.  The 
seen  and  the  unseen  were  in  battle  array.  No  na- 
tion dared  to  pray,  "  Deliver  me  from  the  power  of 
the  enemy";  but  the  nations  together  cried,  "De- 
liver us  all  from  the  evil  that  is  organized  against 
us." 

Today,  the  war  being  over,  we  see  a  world  again 
falling  apart.     One  danger  is  past;  but  selfish  and 


LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION     129 

unscrupulous  groups  are  drawing  off  to  plot  villainy 
in  every  corner  of  the  globe.  The  danger  is  great. 
God  is  today  allowing  a  whole  world  to  be 
tempted.  We  are  rightly  pale  with  terror.  The 
risk  of  failure  is  awful.  God's  ultimate  victory 
is  assured;  but  it  is  increasingly  doubtful  whether 
this  generation  or  even  this  whole  age  shall  be  part 
of  the  victory.  To  share  in  God's  victory,  we  must 
stand  together,  we  must  recognize  our  brotherhood, 
we  must  resist  as  organized  humanity  the  organized 
forces  of  evil.  You  know  the  organized  forces  of 
evil  in  every  city,  in  every  nation.  They  may  be 
summarized  under  the  titles  of  immorality,  or 
worldliness,  or  uncompromising  selfishness,  or  po- 
litical corruption.  Organized  righteousness  must 
win  God's  power  to  overcome  this  organized  evil. 

Righteousness  has  once  for  all  been  divinely 
organized  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  His  Church 
is  the  only  visible  means  by  which  all  men  every- 
where may  act  as  one  body  to  cause  the  utter  col- 
lapse of  evil.  The  men  who  criticize  the  Church 
as  petty  should  bring  to  it  their  breadth;  the  men 
who  accuse  it  of  meanness  should  bring  to  it  their 
[Tenerosity ;  the  men  who  say  that  it  is  unbusinesslike 


I30  HOW  TO  PRAY 

should  bring  to  it  their  skill ;  the  men  who  think  it 
timid  should  bring  to  it  their  courage ;  the  men  who 
feel  that  it  is  prejudiced  and  bigoted  should  bring 
to  it  their  candour,  their  truth,  and  their  freedom; 
the  men  who  believe  it  self-centred  and  complacent 
should  bring  to  it  their  sacrifice,  their  humility, 
their  love.  Men  crazed  but  good  go  wildly  into 
the  building  of  organizations  which  at  best  can  be 
only  partial  and  local.  Here  is  a  God-made  insti- 
tution ready  at  hand, —  beset,  it  is  true,  with  the 
weakness  and  failure  which  attach  to  all  things  made 
of  human  material,  but  fused,  also,  with  the  strength 
and  the  inevitable  success  which  attach  to  every- 
thing which  is  of  God. 

When  we  pray,  "  Deliver  us  from  evil,"  we  are 
humanity  at  one,  crying  to  God  for  the  victory 
which  belongs  to  both  God  and  man.  We  are 
humanity  consciously  filled  with  the  leadership  and 
the  life  of  Christ.  We  are  His  Church  in  all  the 
world:  we  are  His  body;  as  such  we  are  indomi- 
table. We  are  —  in  Him  and  through  Him  — hu- 
manity perfectly  organized ;  acting  as  one  man ;  fear- 
less and  loving;  dying  to  live;  the  victor  of  evil; 
entering  at  last  the  victory  of  God. 

PRINTED   IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    OT   AMERICA 


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